Bumblebee

The film presents late-80s America so fetishistically that it feels at times like a follow-up to Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher (2014), and its recycling of 80s teen-movie cliches are also weirdly reverential.

Energetic and a whole lot of fun.

Bumblebee is the sort of Transformers movie I want to watch. It surprised me in a decidedly non-automated way.

Where the Bay "Transformers" movies alternated between ecstasy and dullness, "Bumblebee" is consistently middling.

Though the references are familiar, it's a fresh direction for the macho franchise.

At times very funny, Bumblebee is still at heart a big ol' B-movie, but less bumbling and bombastic than its post-dated predecessors.

“Bumblebee” is a good spin-off that easily stands on its own unique merits.

Well always have Transformers movies as long as they keep making money and selling merchandise, so they might as well feature the Bee's kinder, more invigorating zeal.

They needed to make it a safe, solid movie in order to revitalize the franchise, get people believing in the Transformers again, and I think to a large extent, they did do that.

Bumblebee offers ample evidence that change can be a very good thing for a movie franchise, and there are still plenty of great stories to tell in the Transformers universe.