The Best Transformers Movie of All Time Deserved So Much Better (& Paramount Should Still Revisit It)

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Michael Bay’s Transformers films initially did very well. The first movie received mixed reviews from critics (a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences loved it and it became a major hit in 2007. It even brought in viewers who weren’t familiar with the original toys or TV show. While not a masterpiece, that 57% suggests critics acknowledged it was entertaining despite its flaws. The sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, earned even more money, but its confusing plot and problematic content make it widely considered the low point of the Transformers movie series.

After a slight improvement with Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the next two films, Transformers: Age of Extinction and Transformers: The Last Knight, were generally considered failures. Thankfully, Travis Knight’s Bumblebee proved that a Transformers movie could actually be really good.

Why Wasn’t Bumblebee the Future of the Franchise?

The Transformers movies directed by Michael Bay feel empty and rely on weak jokes and confusing action. They just feel long and pointless. Bumblebee, however, is a completely different experience. It’s a heartfelt film that’s also much shorter and easier to enjoy, clocking in at just 114 minutes.

This story is much smaller in scale. Forget massive battles with dozens of Decepticons and Autobots, huge explosions, and city-wide destruction. This time, we only see two Decepticons, and after a brief opening, the focus is almost entirely on Bumblebee.

Even the film’s opening battle, which is its most over-the-top moment, is a step up from the previous movies. The action is easier to follow, and right away, you get a sense of the film’s distinct, old-school visual style. The Autobots and Decepticons look more like their original cartoon versions, which is appealing, even if you didn’t grow up watching the show. They’re products of the 1980s, and that decade had a unique feel. It was a time for hopeful movies, even those that also dealt with darker themes, like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Poltergeist.

Considering films like E.T. and Poltergeist, and the general feel of 1980s movies, Steven Spielberg has been an executive producer for all the live-action Transformers films. However, Bumblebee is the first one that truly captures that Spielberg magic – that “Amblin” feel – even though it wasn’t directly made by Amblin Entertainment. Spielberg actually developed the core idea for Bumblebee: a story about a teenage girl who forms a friendship with a robot from space, and that focus on a coming-of-age story is what makes the film work.

The film concludes with Charlie Watson and Bumblebee defeating their enemies and finding a moment of peace overlooking the California coast. They then go their separate ways – Charlie back to her family, and Bumblebee to rejoin the Autobots. It’s a satisfying ending that works well as a standalone movie, but the connection between Charlie and Bumblebee felt strong enough to support a couple of sequels. Their relationship was far more genuine and appealing than the one Bumblebee shared with Sam in the previous three films.

As a huge Transformers fan, I always thought it was a missed opportunity that Bumblebee, set in 1987, wasn’t more directly connected to the original 2007 Transformers movie. Imagine if a new threat arose, linking back to the first adventure, and Bumblebee felt compelled to protect someone from his past! They’d already established a foundation with the first film, so building a sequel and then a third movie around it felt like a natural progression. Honestly, that approach could have created a much more compelling and heartwarming series than the story focused on the Witwicky family.

While the newer Transformers movies – Rise of the Beasts (which lands somewhere between Michael Bay’s style and Bumblebee) and Transformers One (which feels distinct from both) – are improvements over Bay’s films, none of them quite reach the level of Bumblebee. It’s been nearly a decade, so a sequel continuing Bumblebee’s story with an older version of the character Charlie is still possible, but it doesn’t seem probable. Steinfeld is busy with both her personal life, as she’s expecting a child, and a steady stream of acting roles. And now that Michael Bay is returning, it’s even more apparent than it was in 2018 that Bumblebee was the high point of the franchise and could have launched a truly great series.

Interested in a sequel to Bumblebee? Share your thoughts in the comments and discuss it with other fans on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-03-05 22:13