Bumblebee reviews: What do critics say about the Transformers prequel?

Reviews for the new Bumblebee movie have been overwhelmingly positive. The official plot for Bumblebee reads: “On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee the Autobot seeks refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. “Charlie, on the brink of turning 18 years old and trying to find her place in the world, soon discovers the battle-scarred and broken Bumblebee. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns that this is no ordinary yellow Volkswagen”

What do critics have to say about the Transformers prequel?

With a 98 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is safe to say reviews have been good.

The critics’ consensus reads: Bumblebee proves it’s possible to bring fun and a sense of wonder back to a bloated blockbuster franchise — and sets up its own slate of sequels in the bargain.”

Variety’s Peter Debruge wrote: “Bumblebee is basically the movie that fans of the 1980s animated series wanted all along.”

For Little White Lies tryptic review system Elena Lazic gave the prequel three for anticipation, four for enjoyment, and four for retrospect.

Lazic wrote: “Our emotional investment in Bumblebee raises the stakes to vertiginous heights, and the film’s visual style – much calmer, more spatially coherent than Bay’s – allows each painful blow to sink in.”

Justin Changa at the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Bumblebee, for its part, has just enough wit, playfulness and charm to develop a voice of its own, which is no small thing in the context of a flashy, lunkheaded studio franchise.”

Liz Shannon Miller gave the movie a rating of B+ for IndieWire and wrote: “Fans of the classic Transformers will be thrilled by many of the touches here.

“But there is also now an entire generation of kids who are going to get to watch a girl drive, with a smile on her face.”

Molly Freeman gave the movie four out of five stars for ScreenRant.

Freeman called Bumblebee a: fun, heartfelt and still action-filled Transformers prequel that ushers in a new – and better – era of movies about the Autobots.”

William Bibbiani at TheWrap wrote: “As a course correction for the series, pulling the previously complex mythology way back and starting over from scratch, it’s enormously effective.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s Justin Lowe wrote: “It’s an effective reimagining that also bears a knowing resemblance to classic youth-oriented films from Bumblebee executive producer Steven Spielberg.”

Leah Greenblatt gave the movie a B+ for Entertainment Weekly, writing: “[Cena] gives good muscle, but Bumblebee brings something even more important – and actually transforming – to the series: a sense of humour, and a heart.”

Den Of Geek’s Duncan Bowles gave the movie four out of five stars, and wrote Bumblebee was “certainly a high for the franchise.”

Another four out of five-star rating came from The Mary Sue’s Chelsea Steiner.

Steiner called Bumblebee: “a crowd-pleaser of a movie, and it hits all the necessary beats.

“The movie succeeds where all of Bay’s films failed because, despite being a story centred on battling robots, Bumblebee never loses sight of its humanity.”

Bumblebee is out in cinemas on December 24, 2018.