Bumblebee

I saw the first two Transformer movies (I know I saw the first one, the second one is fuzzy) and didn't like them at all, so why did I watch a prequel, Bumblebee? Who am I kidding, I watched it because of Hailee Steinfeld, who in addition to being as cute as a button is also a very charismatic performer.

She plays Charlie, a teenage girl who has just lost her father, likes to listen to the Smiths (the movie is set in 1987, and is a feast of nostalgia for anyone who lived through that year) and is trying to finish working on a Corvette. While visiting a marina, looking for spare parts, she stumbles upon an old VW Beetle. She drives it home, but soon finds out it's B-127, one of the Autobots.

There is a prologue explaining how he got to Earth, but unless you're really into the Transformers it's kind of confusing. Suffice it to say that his voice is destroyed, so he can only communicate by spinning the dial on his radio.

Of course there are bad robots after him--two Decepticons who are tasked with finding Optimus Prime, the head Autobot. The government agrees to help them find B-127, which is kind of like us partnering with the Russians. John Cena, as some kind of military guy, mistrusts the Decepticons, with good reason.

All of this is so we can see giant robots beating the crap out of each other, and if that's why you want to watch, you will be rewarded. If you're older than 13, or aren't in touch with the 13-year-old inside you, this will be tedious stuff. But I didn't mind it as much as the other Transformer movies because it is not as aggressively stupid as the others and Steinfeld is a very engaging heroine.

The movie was directed by Travis Knight in his first non-animation film (he directed the excellent Kubo And The Two Strings) and succeeds by just letting the story and characters take center stage. For adults, the appeal will be in all the '80s references. A significant one is Judd Nelson lifting his fist at the end of The Breakfast Club, surely the most important role Nelson has had in several years.