Bumblebee, the Transformers prequel with the franchise’s best reviews, is being shown on TV tonight.
The 2018 film, which stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Angela Bassett, Dylan O’Brien and Justin Theroux, is airing at 6.35pm on Film4.
After that, it’ll be available on Channel 4’s streaming service to watch for free with ads (there’s also the ad-free tier at £3.99 a month or £39.99 a year).
If you’ve got a Paramount+ subscription, it’s also available to watch any time.
Bumblebee takes the action back to the 1980s, when the Autobot escapes to Earth and befriends a teenage girl.
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But it’s not all fun and games, as a team of Deceptions are out looking for him, and manipulate a military group into helping them.
With a 91% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, Bumblebee is the highest-rated Transformers film among critics on the site. Until last year’s Transformers One, no other film even came close.
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Here’s what some of the reviews have said:
“The best thing that has ever happened to the franchise. It’s exactly what a Transformers movie should be: funny, action-packed and under two hours.
“The best scenes in Bumblebee are probably meant to be the heartwarming, humorously ironic bonding scenes between this young woman and her alien robot friend. But I perked up a bit more at all the other stuff: the Tweedledee and Tweedledum pair of Decepticon villains who’ve arrived from Cybertron to hunt Bumblebee down, for example, or the militaristic Agent Burns (Cena), whose one-track-minded pursuit of the lovable Autobot leads him hilariously astray.”
“Christina Hodson’s screenplay has a tighter focus on the human characters (and on Bumblebee’s own human/canine qualities), and offers far more coherent spectacle than the ‘Bayhem’ maximalism of the previous franchise titles.”
“In a better, truer cinematic universe, Travis Knight would have been in charge of the Transformers franchise all along. For this prequel/spin-off, the sixth in the series, the director gets under the hood of Michael Bay’s pumped-up blockbuster machine, and strips it down to something succinct, fun and sweet-toned.”
“It succeeds due to a talented director who loves the source material, a well-rounded cast, and an abundance of heart.
Bumblebee airs on Film4 at 6.45pm tonight and can be streamed on Channel 4 after. It also available on Paramount+.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small.
A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe’s main interest is in video gaming. Although particularly a PlayStation gamer, he plays across Xbox, Nintendo and PC/Steam Deck, and likes to keep tabs on many games he’s not got the time to play.
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