Film Preview: Bumblebee (2018)

Page Revisions:

(Jun. 10, 2018) Original
(September 30, 2018) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#2-#4)
(December 16, 2018) New Posters (#5-#14)

Release Date:

December 21, 2018

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.”

Poster Rating: C / C+ / C / C- / C / C+ / C / C+ / C- / C- (2) / C- (2) / C

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Review: (#1) It’s unexceptional. It’s boring. It’s thematically colored and that’s its one true saving grace.

(#2) A very yellow poster that captures the essence of the character, but with seemingly little purpose. (#3) Not far from the first poster, but still not terribly exciting. (#4) How this sells the film to anyone in the Asian markets is unknown as the Transformers element seems absent, unless referenced in the foreign language text.

(#5) Mediocre elements in golden landscape is adequate, but forgettable. (#6) Enhancing the prior design by increasing the size of elements along with tossing in a familiar Transformers logo should help sell the film. (#7) Removing John Cena from the design for the French poster doesn’t make a lot of sense. (#8) More action-oriented, but less interesting, this design has less of a yellow hue, which doesn’t feel right. (#9) Fast & The Furious if made as a Transformers movie. This poster is a poor fit for the film. (#10-#11) One must have the other primary colors represented by cars that have multiple configurations and a lack of style. (#12-#13) Like the prior two posters, this set lacks flair or necessity. (#14) Cluttered design with clunky lettering, poor posing, and cheap lighting effects just doesn’t impress.

Trailer Rating: B+ / C+

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Review: (#1) A surprisingly touching trailer that doesn’t say a lot, but has some careful and clever moments. It definitely seems more humane than any of Michael Bay’s versions.

(#2) While the first trailer made this film feel like it could finally be something different than the effects-laden spectacles the Transformers films were. This new trailer makes me concerned again that this is going to be just a cheap knock-off prequel to those films.

Oscar Prospects:

It could be a nominee for Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects, but that’s about as much as it can expect and even those aren’t certainties.