Hasbro is taking a page out of the Marvel playbook by taking control of their property and doing a complete rehab of their flagship franchise, Transformers.  Bumblebee is Hasbro stripping off the stain and gloss of Michael Bay and refinishing it with a nice coat of nostalgia and heart.  Bumblebee does a complete 180 from the previous direction of the franchise by giving first generation Transformers to the adult audience and a youthful story with heart for the younger audience, rather than extreme robots for the children and a complicated sci-fi plot for the adults.  By essentially simplifying the franchise,  Bumblebee becomes a heartwarming story wrapped in fond childhood memories and easily the best movie of the franchise.

Hailee Steinfeld (Charlie Watson) drives the youthful storyline of a young girl who finds a car and companion along with her charmingly comedic costar Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Memo).  Steinfeld does a good job of driving the teenage plotline of the angsty 80’s teenager so that even the young millenial can relate.  She stars alongside a more basic CGI version of Bumblebee that moves away from shiny multi-level gears for a simplistic traditional frame.  This allows the audience to focus in more on the emotional mannerisms of the Bumblebee character and really gives this movie the substance it needed.  John Cena (Agent Burns) offers support as a semi serious military character with Pamela Adlon (Mother) as Steinfeld’s helicopter mom and 
Stephen Schneider (Step-Father) as Steinfeld’s overly eager Step-Dad.  All three do a great job of playing the more grounded characters without such seriousness that it takes away from the light hearted relationship of a teenage girl and her robot car which is what really makes this movie work.

Hasbro seems to have done everything right in reimagining the Transformers universe.  They took the “less is more” saying and created a quality movie.  Less explosions for more heart.  Less “wow” special effects for more nostalgic “feels”.  This formula will revitalize what was becoming a stagnant franchise that was just regurgitating the same theme.  A movie truly made for every audience and enjoyable at all ages.  This whole scenario is very reminiscent to Marvel Studios and the first Ironman being a proof of concept and catalyst for what is now a power house studio.  Bumblebee is the toe dipped in the water signaling Hasbro Studios it is ok to dive right in.