Bumblebee is free on Tubi and still the best Transformers film

Bumblebee, long held up as the franchise’s best entry, is now available to stream for free on Tubi. The movie felt like a corrective after later entries such as The Last Knight leaned into ever-larger mythology and spectacle while sidelining the human characters, producing moments that read as disjointed and tossed-off.

The film opens with Bumblebee’s origin on Cybertron and follows the damaged Autobot scout to 1987 San Francisco, where a broken voice box and memory core leave him mostly communicating as a lovable, awkward giant who sometimes turns into a 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

Director Travis Knight deliberately scales things down, giving the movie a retro, character-driven tone that recalls E.T. and The Iron Giant, and it still holds up on the strength of its grounded approach and a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score. Casting Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie Watson anchors the film: she feels like a real teenager, grappling with grief and identity, which makes her bond with Bumblebee genuinely affecting.

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