To be fair, it probably helps that the Kubo and the Two Strings helmsman isn’t having to juggle quite so many lumbering metal goliaths in his set pieces, with the Paramount spinoff offering a story on a smaller scale than its bigger-is-better predecessors.
While previous trailers have already seen appearances from Optimus Prime and a few villainous Decepticons, the emotional core of this flick looks to be the bond between Bumblebee and Charlie, the latter of whom is played by Edge of Seventeen star Hailee Steinfeld. Though fans of the Bay movies may be showing up to this one hoping for more bot-on-bot action, the E.T.-style friendship between the feature’s central pair is what’s really piquing the curiosity of filmgoers who’d long given up on the main Transformers series.
For many of us, the bar has been set pretty low for Bumblebee, but here’s hoping that “it’s better than the Bay films” isn’t the nicest thing we can say about this release when it hits theaters on December 21st.
Source: YouTube