The 6th Transformers film drops Michael Bay as director and goes back to basics with a prequel set in 1987 that features a teenager who loves her car only to find herself forging a relationship with an alien robot.

The plot is simple, following an opening battle on Cybertron (think Man of Steel’s opening on Krypton) Optimus Prime sends B-127 to Earth to set up a base of operations. Pursued by Decepticons he loses the use of his vocal cords and hides as a Volkswagen Beetle before being found by Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld).

The result is probably the best live action Transformers film or at least one to rival Bay’s 2007 original. Obviously for kids who grew up playing with the toys it can not beat 1986’s Transformers: The Movie which it gives a few nods to via the opening scene on Cybertron, the year it is set and a particularly great moment featuring a classic song.

So what makes it so good? To start with, it has heart, develops its main relationship and when it does feature action it’s parred down to smaller scale moments that are coherent. It also features enough nostalgic nods for fans. The excesses of Bay’s sequels are no where to be seen. Something I’m especially thankful for given I gave them worst film of the year in 2014 and 2017.

Directed by stop-motion animation house Laika alumni Travis Knight (director of the amazing Kubo and the Two Strings) this film has a very big thank you to another animated feature, The Iron Giant. If you’ve seen the 1999 Brad Bird film you will know it’s about a young boy befriending an alien robot who can’t speak whilst the Government want to use it as a weapon. Replace the young boy with a teenage girl and we are on very familiar ground. Writer Christina Hodson does a fantastic job as well, making the lead role of Charlie believable and not a purely sexual being like women in the franchise so far.

Set to a great 80’s soundtrack (particularly The Smiths), featuring a genuinely warm central friendship between robot and teenager and some funny moments and solid action this is good family entertainment. It also comes in at under 2 hours which no Michael Bay version managed.