The Transformers series has continued to stray far from the boy-and-machine heart of the 2007 original over the last decade, instead venturing down increasingly grey and doomy, knights-dragons-dinosaurs territory. But the franchise looks like it’s about to return to the lighter, Amblin-inspired coming-of-age themes of the first film with a new spin-off. Yellow Autobot Bumblebee has got his own self-titled solo film, with Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight behind the camera.
Not only is it the first Transformers film not directed by Michael Bay, but it’s taking the franchise back to the 1980s, with Bumblebee sporting his retro VW Beetle form — and spewing out a cassette of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. In the lead is Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson, a young woman who forms a friendship with the rusted Transformer when she discovers him in a junkyard. Also making a brief appearance is John Cena playing obligatory military man Agent Burns.
The trailer suggests a welcome change of tone for the Transformers series, which seems to be at a turning point — Paramount recently pulled the next main Transformers film from its upcoming release schedule, perhaps indicating that a reboot is on the cards. We’ll find out whether Bumblebee is the start of that when it hits UK cinemas on 21 December.
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