THB #382: Review - Transformers '96

Oh… I misnamed it in the title.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh in the live-action CG-laden Transformers franchise, which started 16 years ago with the Michael Bay-directed Transformers.

I felt that Bay had accomplished the goals he was reaching for in the third film of the franchise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The transformers actually felt like they were fully engaged actors in the film for the first time.

Unfortunately, this was not enough for Michael Bay and he made 2 more movies in his inimitable style… with diminishing returns.

2018’s Bumblebee was the first real step away from the Bay version of the franchise.

And now, Rise of the Beasts feels, to me, like the Transformers movie that Don Murphy might have been dreaming of when he came up with the notion of reviving the old cartoon-as-an-ad-for-merchandise from the 1980s and 1990s.

The Transformers themselves are as sophisticated as CG allows. In that way, it is cutting edge. But the soul of this movie feels …