Bumblebee | 2018 | PG-13 | – 3.5.4

Why is “Bumblebee” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “sequences of sci-fi action violence.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes young women wearing outfits that reveal cleavage, scenes of robot torture, two deaths caused by a robot as well as the implication of death in several robot attacks, several perilous encounters between humans and robots that leave humans with bloody wounds, and several obscenities. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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The Transformers franchise continues by going back to 1987 and tracing the origin of Bumblebee, the cute but battle-scarred Volkswagen Beetle and his affectionate relationship with the 18-year-old (Hailee Steinfeld) who salvaged him from a junkyard. Also with Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, Megyn Price, John Cena, Pamela Adlon, Grey Griffin, Peter Cullen and the voice of Dylan O’Brien. Directed by Travis Knight. [Running Time: 1:53]

Bumblebee SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A teen girl is shown wearing a one piece swimsuit that reveals breasts and nipples through the fabric. A young man removes his shirt and pants and we see him wearing swim trunks (his bare chest, abdomen, back and legs are shown). A young woman tells a young man to take off his shirt and he does (we see his bare chest, abdomen and back). After drinks are spilled on a young man (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), he removes his shirt and we see his bare chest, abdomen and back. Several young women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage and halter tops that reveal cleavage and bare backs in a few scenes. A young woman wears a micro-mini skirt that reveals her bare legs to the upper thighs. Many young women gathered outside wear low-cut tops and very short skirts that reveal cleavage, bare abdomens and bare legs to the upper thighs. A young woman’s shirt lifts in the back revealing her bare back from the waist to the hips.
► A man and a woman kiss and a young woman enters the room. A young woman kisses a young man on the cheek.
► A young man tries to hold a young woman’s hand and she says, “Mmm, not quite there yet.” A young man tries to talk to a young woman in several scenes and braces himself to ask her out on a date. A woman yells at a man as she leaves a trailer saying, “You tried to sleep with my sister.”

Bumblebee VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 - A giant robot shoots a man and the man blows up into a cloud of slime; the robot says, "I like the way they pop." A robot shoots a man and blows him to a cloud of slime that splats on the floor. A robot is shot with many harpoons attached to cables and pulled by vehicles until a man throws a young woman to the ground and the robot pulls itself free and hits the man, throwing him some distance. A robot shoots at soldiers attacking it and the soldiers shoot back (flames and explosions blow up around them).
► A giant robot holds the severed arm of another robot (we see it with wires dangling from the shoulder wound) and questions it about the location of another robot, and then another robot stabs it in the chest with a giant blade (it moans) before cutting it in half from the head down (we see a stripe of glowing metal as the blade slices). A robot wrapped with chains hangs from a ceiling while other robots punch and interrogate it; the chains pull away from the ceiling and the robot crashes to the floor, one robot stomps on the other robot's chest and then shoots it and it lies motionless.
► A giant ball of fire barrels to the ground and the blast from its impact throws many men through the air; they open fire on a robot as it stands up in the flames and they chase it through woods and roads shooting and using fire grenade launchers, when the robot transforms into a jeep it is shot with harpoons but it gets away and cuts down several trees to block the road behind it; the robot runs toward a mine and is struck by a vehicle knocking it to the ground and a fighter plane shoots at the men gathered around it (we see vehicles overturned and men thrown through the air and one man is left with a bloody wound on his face). A giant fireball falls from the sky and strikes a truck driving on the road (it flips over in flames, presumably killing anyone inside it; we do not see anyone); another fireball strikes a car and blows it up with flames. Explosives are planted on a hangar door and are detonated blowing the doors off and throwing people inside through the air; a young man is shown with an injured arm and he is later seen with a bit of blood on his arm and later with a sling on his arm. Two robots on a tower are shot at from the ground and they shoot back; a helicopter flies toward them and the helicopter is shot out of the sky (a robot on the ground helps the chopper land safely), a robot shoot a rocket that hits a dumpster and a young woman tumbles out and runs for cover. A war scene between robots shows them shooting blasts of energy at each other and we see some struck and flipping through the air, one robot is tackled and head-butted and we see a giant tower being struck by energy blasts and it collapses.
► Two robots fight slamming each other to the ground and rock walls (we hear clanking metal): one robot rides on the other's back and stabs it in the back several times, and the other one throws it to the ground, straddles it and stabs it in the neck pulling out its communication hardware and then shoots it repeatedly and drops it over a cliff (we see it bouncing off rock walls all the way to the ground). During a battle we see a robot dog separate from a large robot and attack other robots snarling and snapping its jaws. Two robots fight and one is thrown around like a rag doll; they punch and kick each other and slam each other into the ground and surrounding structures. Two robots fight and one holds a giant sword over the other lying on the ground as it shoots a dam wall releasing a wall of water and a barge that washes over them.
► A young man and a young woman in a car are surrounded by military vehicles and armed soldiers: the two get out of the car and are grabbed by men, and the car transforms into a robot and protects the young woman, picking her up, running and sliding down a hill; they are confronted by two other robots that shoot at them, the robot and the young woman are thrown to the ground (there are no visible injuries on the young woman) and the robot is punched by another robot and then shot with a taser repeatedly, shorting it out and leaving it unable to defend itself. A car is shot at repeatedly while speeding away. A police car chases another car on a narrow winding road and they dodge oncoming cars and swerve between lanes; one car speeds outside the guard rail and nearly falls over a cliff, then gets back on the road, crashes through construction barriers, climbs the wall of a tunnel while transforming into a robot and then back into a car, stomps on the hood of the police car and speeds away.
► Many armed men (with paintball guns) are shown in a wooded setting and one man is snared by a trap that pulls him into a tree, hanging from his ankle while another man on the ground teases him for getting caught and shoots him several times with paintballs (we see splatters of paint on his vest). A young woman shoots a robot repeatedly with taser weapons trying to recharge and reanimate it; it eventually revives. A young woman climbs on a crane toward a tall tower and is shot at, and she nearly falls off the crane.
► Two cars speed toward a road block of military vehicles and armed soldiers on a desert road; the cars transform into giant robots and one man says, "Let me kill them." A young woman and a young man ride in a car, and she ties a shirt over her eyes and stands up through the sunroof leaving the car to drive itself. A young woman on a moped chases her mother driving a car and the car swerves when she rides alongside her; the mother then pulls to the side of the road. A young woman tells a young man, "If you tell anyone about this [a robot in her garage], I'll have to run you over with my car." Many young men and young women gather at a cliff over the ocean and one young man dives into the water below (he is unharmed). A car speeds next to another car and a woman in the car tells the driver of the other car to pull over. A man driving a car swerves on a road to block other cars from chasing another car; the man drives through an intersection on a red light and several cars and a truck nearly crashes into him; one car flips end-over-end and lands on the other side of the car. A robot puts a young woman in a dumpster for safety. A young woman is shown with bloody scratches on her face.
► A robot accidentally breaks a door down when trying to see through a doggie door and enters a house stumbling through furniture and bumping into lighting fixtures; it breaks a sofa, tips over a TV, pulls down bookshelves, squeezes a soda can spraying liquid around the room, starts a coffee maker causing it to spill coffee on the floor and is shocked by electric current when it sticks a piece of its finger into a socket (we see power lines pop and spark).
► A young woman dives off a tower platform into water and finds a motionless robot that revives and they both surface safely. A piece falls off the underside of a car and a young woman slides under the car to examine it when she sees a face and bright eyes light up; the car transforms into a robot and stands over the young woman, and then huddles in a corner (it seems afraid). A robot transforms on a beach and kicks sand on a young woman, and then rubs her hair to get the sand out. A robot buries its head in the sand when a young woman tells it to hide (they are practicing). A robot, a young man and a young woman throw toilet paper on a large tree in front of a young woman's house; they then throw eggs on her car and the robot jumps on the car smashing it flat as its alarm goes off.
► A man calls for help over a radio and says that robots are "Going to kill us all." We hear that a young woman's father died of a heart attack. We hear that a planet of robots has fallen to enemy forces and that the only way they can survive is to find a new planet. A man says, "I should have let you die in Grenada," to another man. A boy says, "I will rupture their spleen," about anyone that might attack him in karate class. A boy says, "You're crippled for life" to his mother about a karate move. A man says, "Russia is gonna blow us all to [mild obscenity deleted]." A young woman yells in frustration while trying to fix a car. A young woman cries in a couple of scenes grieving for her dead father. A man tells a young woman that she should smile more often. A young woman tells a robot that people will, "Cut you into tiny little pieces," if they were to catch it. Song lyrics talk about a "girlfriend in a coma." A young woman mocks another young woman and tells her, "You should get you father to buy you a better car," knowing that the girl's father is dead. A young woman yells at a robot in a few scenes and it cowers. A young woman and her mother argue bitterly and the young woman storms out. A young woman is accused of stealing sensitive military items and a man confesses to stealing a box of Mallomars when he was a teen. A man says, "I will personally rip your face off."
► A young woman spills a tray of drinks on a young man in an amusement park and other people tease her about losing her job. A young woman puts two different cassette tapes in a robot's player and the robot spits them out throwing them across the room and into a wall.
► A boy vomits in the back seat of a car after a harrowing chase sequence (we see goo). A young woman brushes her teeth and spits in a sink (we see toothpaste and saliva). A young woman smells her own armpits and reacts to the smell. A young woman is shown with green clay mask on her face.

Bumblebee LANGUAGE 4

 - 5 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 16 mild obscenities, name-calling (disgusting, death trap, stupid, idiot, nerd, weird, cool, war machine, Einstein, hysterical), exclamations (shut-up, jeez), 25 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, God, Jesus, I Swear To God, God Knows What, Please God No, Thank God). | profanity glossary |

Bumblebee SUBSTANCE USE

 - A woman drinks a glass of wine at home, and many young men and young woman gathered outside on a cliff hold cups that presumably contain alcohol.

Bumblebee DISCUSSION TOPICS

 - Alien beings, robots, death of a parent, letting go, grief, humiliation, disguises, friendship, torture, fear, fearing what we don't understand, revenge, trauma.

Bumblebee MESSAGE

 - Friendship can help heal emotional wounds.