'Bumblebee' trailer looking to re-energize 'Transformers' franchise — with some help from Optimus Prime
Michael Bay is taking a break (at least temporarily) from the Transformers franchise, whose last entry, 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight, was easily the lowest domestic grosser in the series (with $130 million). Nonetheless, audiences won’t have to wait long for another robots-in-disguise extravaganza, since Bumblebee will be racing into theaters this December. And as revealed in its latest trailer, it will feature more than one larger-than-life fan favorite.
As its title makes clear, Bumblebee will focus on the heroic yellow VW beetle, who, in the 1980s, teams up with teenager Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) on a mission to save Earth from invading Decepticon forces. The villainous robots have partnered with the U.S. military (under the command of John Cena) to find and kill the stranded Autobot, whom they claim is a dangerous outlaw.
How Bumblebee wound up alone on Earth has, to date, remained something of a mystery. Yet the clip above reveals that his journey to our planet was commissioned by Optimus Prime, here seen giving his comrade orders to protect us from alien threats. It also provides us with plenty of familiar images of shape-shifting machines driving and flying into battle, enormous robots awkwardly trying to navigate human-sized environments, and some cutesy interplay between Bumblebee and Charlie — all of which suggests that director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) isn’t straying all that far from the template set forth by franchise mastermind Bay, even as he attempts to interject some Iron Giant-esque heart into his chaotic action saga.
Bumblebee races into theaters Dec. 21.
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