Future Transformers films must keep at least one thing in mind that Bumblebee did better than Director Michael Bay's movies about "robots in disguise" to help restore hope to the franchise. Transformers, the first of the live-action movies based on the twisty, foldable action figure toys created by Hasbro, proved to be a success. With its release, Transformers brought in a new realm of digital and visual effects, which helped to suspend viewer belief and deliver spectacular action sequences. The Autobots and Decepticons were designed with a strong attention to detail and believable sense of scale, hinting at the possible notion that seamlessly merging artificial intelligence with reality was effortless to those behind the scenes.
Michael Bay's Transformers movies centered around its main protagonist, the geeky teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who became a genuinely likable character at firsthand. Younger audiences could relate to his struggles with finding a girlfriend, being bullied at school, and not having a keen car to show off. Sam's relationship with his old, beat-up, yellow Camaro that later ends up being the iconic Autobot, Bumblebee, added to the innocence of the film and its success.
Despite being a huge financial success, the sequel to the first film became a defining moment where Michael Bay began to lose his grip on fans of the franchise in a big way. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen included a constant barrage of lewd, inappropriate jokes in a film otherwise catered towards a young demographic interested in transforming robots from outer space. To many, the odd mix of juvenile and adult humor felt very much out of place. What's more, the female characters were constantly depicted as sex objects, some of them being the center of gratuitously sensual scenes. Racist stereotypes were also a huge problem, such as Autobots Skids and Mudflap, who spoke almost entirely in ebonics for no reason. These mistakes continued into the third film and even the fourth and fifth, which were written with little to no effort, often following the same exact storytelling formula over and over. Bumbleebee, on the other hand, offers a path forward for the franchise.
How The Future Transformers Movies Can Learn From Its Latest Installment, "Bumblebee"
Instead of following Michael Bay's Transformers movies' example, Director Travis Knight took a different approach with Bumblebee, focusing more on the connection between the robot and human characters. Played by Hailee Steinfeld, Charlie Watson creates more of a believable bond between herself and Bumblebee with Knight's sensitive and nuanced style of storytelling, where these two characters became the central components of the movie. Knight's film does feel much slower than Bay's take on the Transformers franchise, but how he handles Bumblebee's interpersonal and social dynamics is something rarely seen in Hollywood nowadays. The humans in this adaptation of Transformers are much more patient with the robots, and there's a sense of delicacy and care present in Knight's film.
Bumblebee might've shifted its Transformers gears and taken a huge step back by focusing more on character development than over-the-top action sequences like Michael Bay, but there's a lesson to be learned here. Audiences are able to digest and actually follow what's happening on-screen in the fight sequences this time around, because they're filmed at a much slower speed. Part of the problem with Bay's films was that some designs for the robots were rather complicated, making it difficult for audiences to tell whether they were an Autobot or Decepticon even when standing still. It didn't help that Bay's action sequences almost always included use of shaky cam and extreme close-ups as well as countless explosions, making things even harder for audiences to see and understand.
If there's one thing that the makers of the next Transformers film can take away from Bumblebee, it's that it might be better to focus on consistent storytelling and true character development at the expense of going for dramatic action sequences and sleek visual effects. This approach helps to create more of a believable film for fans to enjoy. While unfortunate that it took getting another director to helm the project, Bumblebee ultimately proved that the live-action Transformers movies can be a success, if past mistakes are avoided and new ideas are brought in.
