Movie 2019.01.13 0 Bumblebee

Have read the reviews (mostly bad). That probably lessened the blow when we finally watched Bumblebee. I mean, it's NOT a Michael Bay movie, so how bad could it be? Having Hailee Steinfeld there probably also helped. The 3D glasses definitely did. Been years since I last watched a 3D movie, and the experience was not good. The images are vague and fuzzy, and tend to make me dizzy and disoriented. This time, the 3D effect is clear and very convincing.

Back to the movie. Main reason I didn't like it is because it's a hodgepodge of cardboard humans, metallic robots, and cliched situations. You get the gungho soldier, the quirky scientist, the troubled teen, the clueless parents, the school jock, the mean girls, the clumsy suitor, etc. Now that I think about it, it has a bit of a Superman feel to it. An alien race forced to evacuate their home planet. An emissary sent off to a promising planet to bring hope to the future. Bad guys in hot pursuit. The new immigrant learning the ropes with the help of a local. Ultimately the big showdown with the bad guys with a little help from his new human friends.

At the end of the movie, I still don't get why these robots still feel the need to transform to Beetles or muscle cars or fighter jets or canines, when they could just choose the most efficient form and stick with it. It's like what Charlie said, "All this time you could've been a Camaro?!"

Despite those, there's still some genuinely unexpected funny moments. Like when Bumblebee spit out that Rick Astley cassette tape so hard it almost broke the wall. Even the Chinese audience have been rickrolled so much, they got the joke. And the last scene when John Cena saluted the Autobot soldier, and Bumblebee replied with Judd Nelson's signature fist pump in The Breakfast Club.