The Transformers franchise has taken quite a beating over the last decade or so. While the films remained box office successes, for the most part, they carry a bad reputation for their consistently poor reviews, poor taste humor, borderline racist caricatures, sexism, and cluttered and confusing action scenes. Many would suspect that the franchise is beyond saving at this point, but is it really down for the count?
A few weeks ago we saw the release of "Bumblebee," a spin-off Transformers film based around the title character. The film featured everything the Michael Bay films lacked. It featured genuine heart, likable characters (both human and robot), good robot designs, genuine humor, and action you can actually follow on screen. It only makes sense that this film is the first in the series to receive mostly positive reviews.
While the film is doing okay business-wise at the box office, it's still one of the lowest grossing of the entire series. In some ways, this makes sense. This is a smaller film compared to the other ones and would have a smaller draw. However, I fear some of the low box office numbers may come from audiences finally turning their backs on the franchise due to its overall poor reputation.
I think that's a shame because the franchise finally seems to be winning people over in terms of reviews and the positive reactions given by the people who have seen it. The film appears to be a step in the right direction, and I hope the studio actually looks at things like those reviews and tries to make this franchise work. I want to see more movies in the franchise like this with actual characters, heart, and emotion in it.
"Bumblebee" might be restoring people's faith in the franchise and could lead it into a brighter future than it had with Michael Bay directing. Even if the film isn't that much of financial success, the film did spark interest in the franchise, due to the positive critical reaction, that hasn't really been seen in years. This could be the small spark that changes the franchise for the better.
At this point, it's hard to say whether this film "saved the franchise" or not. While the film did slightly better than expected on its second weekend at the box office, It's hard to say how successful this film will truly be. Hopefully, the film will be a big hit when it's released in China, a big market for Transformers films.
The Transformers franchise seems to be trying to push itself out of the shadow of the Michael Bay films with "Bumblebee" and the newly announced animated movie. It seems that they're trying to aim more for a child audience than... whatever the Bay films were going for, which is probably the best way to go given the fact that this franchise is based on a toy line. Here's hoping for a brighter tomorrow for our favorite Autobots and Decepticons. Thank you, "Bumblebee"; without a film like you, nobody would be feeling hopeful about this franchise at all.
