Directed by Travis Knight and written by Christina Hodson, it stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon, and features the voice talents of Dylan O'Brien as the titular character, alongside with Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, and Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of Optimus Prime.

It received positive reviews from critics, which praised its action sequences, Steinfeld's performance, Knight's direction, visuals, and the 1980s setting.

When B-127 refuses to reveal Optimus's whereabouts, Blitzwing tears out his voice box and damages his memory core, prompting B-127 to kill the Decepticon with one of his own missiles.

Elsewhere, 18-year-old Charlie Watson, who is depressed by the death of her father and resentful of her mother Sally's relationship with her new boyfriend Ronald, finds the Beetle in a local scrapyard owned by her Uncle Hank, who gives it to her as an 18th-birthday present.

When trying to start it, Charlie accidentally activates a homing signal that is detected by the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick while they interrogate and kill Cliffjumper on one of Saturn's moons.

The two Decepticons head to Earth, acquire human-made vehicle forms, and encounter Sector 7; pretending to be peacekeepers, they persuade the agency to help them capture B-127, despite Burns' objections.

While left alone one day, Bumblebee unintentionally destroys Charlie's home and causes an energy spike that attracts Sector 7's attention.

Charlie convinces her brother Otis to cover for her and Memo as they follow Burns to the Sector 7 outpost where Bumblebee is being held.

While torturing Bumblebee, Shatter and Dropkick accidentally activate a message from Optimus and learn that the Autobots are coming to Earth.

After evading the military with the help of Memo and her family, Charlie and Bumblebee pursue the Decepticons, who are using a radio tower at a nearby harbor to contact their allies on Cybertron.

In addition, Nick Pilla plays Sector 7 agent Seymour Simmons, an older version of whom was portrayed by John Turturro in previous Transformers films.

[28] Knight originally included Megatron when storyboarding the opening battle scenes on Cybertron but used other characters instead to keep continuity with Michael Bay's Transformers.

[35] On October 2, 2017, in an interview promoting the home media release of Transformers: The Last Knight, Peter Cullen revealed he would reprise his role of Optimus Prime in the film.

[36] On December 11, 2017, it was rumored that actor Martin Short had joined the film's voice roster,[37] though his scene was cut after test screenings.

[38] On May 31, 2018, Jess Harnell revealed he would reprise his role as the voice of Barricade from the 2007 film and The Last Knight, but the character did not appear in the final product.

[39] On July 13, 2018, it was announced that Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux would be voicing a pair of new Decepticons, respectively called Shatter and Dropkick, the main antagonists of the film.

[9] On December 9, 2018, about a week before the film's release, voice actress Grey Griffin stated at a special fan screening that she is reprising her role as Arcee from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

[16] Principal photography on the film began on July 31, 2017, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Vallejo, and Mare Island, California, and was scheduled to finish on November 16, 2017, under the working title Brighton Falls.

[47] The special effects team built a life size model of Bumblebee for reference, and to help Hailee Steinfeld act against on set.

They built a full size copy of Bumblebee's head, chest and upper arms, with paint detail and light-up eyes.

The website's critical consensus read, "Bumblebee proves it's possible to bring fun and a sense of wonder back to a bloated blockbuster franchise -- and sets up its own slate of sequels in the bargain.

The Autobots and Decepticons toss each other around with slick judo-like moves and blast each other with abandon, and the cinematography and editing hold still long enough to let you enjoy each moment.

"[71] Peter Debruge of Variety called the film a "quieter, more character-driven Transformers origin story" and wrote that "Bumblebee is basically the movie that fans of the 1980s animated series wanted all along.

"[72] James Berardinelli of ReelViews writes "Surprisingly, Bumblebee is one of the best escapist films of the season" and "The movie works in large part because of the depth of Steinfeld's performance.

[76] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com was critical of the lack of originality and noted the various tropes borrowed from the films of executive producer Steven Spielberg.

Another script, based on the Beast Wars franchise and written by James Vanderbilt, had also been commissioned, with Hasbro to choose between which film they would make.