This is not your Michael Bay Transformers.
The new trailer for Bumblebee, the franchise’s first prequel, continues the sentimental spirit of the first teaser by zeroing in on the “Girl and her Robot” story (think an E.T. dynamic) of Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), an 18-year-old young woman in the 1980s whose birthday gift of an old yellow Volkswagen bug ends up being the Transformer Bumblebee. Action ensues.
The context of government agents as bad guys in pursuit (think also E.T.) is familiar, but it’s of a character-driven kind (again, E.T.). Relationships are at the core here, not strictly chaotic set pieces stacking up on top of themselves.
Between this and Mary Poppins Returns, the 2018 Christmas movie season holds the promise of two big box office hits – of completely different sorts – for the entire family.
Bumblebee opens on December 21, 2018.
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