Just last month, "Transformers 6", originally scheduled to be released next year, suddenly announced its withdrawal.
This means that the ten-year-old Transformers series of live-action movies is experiencing a big earthquake.
Of course, the backside is directly related to the overall fiasco of the box office reputation of "Change 5" last year.
However, although "Change 6" was cut, Paramount and Hasbro are obviously not willing to give up this super IP easily.
The independent film "Bumblebee", a series of spin-off films with a restart nature, is their test of the waters determined to regain a city.
And this time, Michael Bay, who likes to slap himself in the face, finally chose to let go.
The film was directed by Travis Knight, the director of "Legend of Magic Strings" and the founder of Laika Studio, a rising star in the animation film industry, "Nike Boy";
Hailee Steinfeld, a post-95 Hollywood star who has starred in "The Earthquake" and "Growing Edge", plays the heroine Charlie.
A week ago, the high-profile spinoff released its first full-length trailer, explaining basic character relationships and storylines in 2 minutes and 11 seconds.
From the timeline, the story background of "Bumblebee" is set in the 1980s.
For fans who have watched the TV animation version, this era has a special meaning.
Because the first generation of toys and animations of "Transformers" were born during this period, the first domestic audiences who came into contact with "Transformers" animation also started in 1988.
In the previous five Transformers movies, the timeline for Bumblebee included World War II ("Transformers 5") and modern times.
Therefore, the selection of the 1980s in the middle section can not only form a complement to the entire series, but also provide a retro and nostalgic atmosphere.
And speaking of nostalgia, the most intimate thing is that the shape of the Bumblebee has returned to the appearance of the original TV version of the animation in 1984, that is, the yellow Chevrolet sports car has become a cute Volkswagen Beetle.
In fact, Michael Bay also paid tribute to the classic Volkswagen Beetle in the first episode of "Transformers".
And the phrase "not people choose cars, but cars choose people" mentioned in the opening remarks of the trailer also comes from the first episode of "Transformers".
In addition, the director also arranged a detail related to the name of Bumblebee, that is, a yellow honeycomb image when the heroine Charlie found Bumblebee in the garbage dump.
This nuance is not present in the Michael Bay version.
It is in this form that director Travis Knight echoes and complements the original series, implying that he will take a different route from the explosion-
That is to weaken the pursuit of external cool visuals, and instead focus on the shaping of characters and the emotions between each other.
What occupies the most space in the trailer is the emotional relationship between Bumblebee and the heroine from encountering each other, giving people the feeling of a live-action version of "Iron Giant" or a Transformers version of "ET Alien".
For example, the fear when the bumblebee curled up in the corner after the first transformation, the beautiful moment when the heroine jumped into the water and faced the bumblebee's sight;
There is also a warm scene where the bumblebee picks up the heroine and runs.
In the end, they hugged each other, and when the girl said "people need you" with tears, it was more like an emotional climax with the meaning of life and death, which is easily reminiscent of the end of "ET Alien".
This kind of portrayal of emotional relationships is what the director is good at.
Visually, since Bumblebee's budget is much lower than the first five films in the series, it can't have much action spectacle.
At the same time, its appearance is very limited. From the trailer, we can only see the only Transformers character other than Bumblebee - Starscream.
This familiar villain also appeared this time in an original shape closer to the TV animation (with animation), which is completely different from the cunning and cunning inverted triangle shape in "Change 1" and "Change 2".
So, unlike Michael Bay, who is full of endless explosions and drastically changed the Transformers image to his own will, Travis Knight, who likes anime and toys, obviously has more to the original Transformers. respect.
Although it does not have such a high investment and does not have so many characters and big scenes, the addition of Travis Knight, who has always been unique, has added many new possibilities to the film.
This is also his first work from stop-motion animation to live-action film.
After the fiasco of "Transformers 5", whether the Transformers universe can be restarted depends on its performance.
And if he fails, Travis Knight can only go back to inherit his father's tens of billions of dollars, and honestly be a rich second generation (wry smile).
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