BUMBLEBEE

1/2 PG-13, 119 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Lisbon. Downsizing was the only answer for the “Transformers” franchise after 2017’s epic, sprawling “Transformers: The Last Knight.” After five bombastic installments from true gearhead Michael Bay, going bigger simply wasn’t an option. So Paramount decided to go home, paring the latest film back to an origin story and getting at what makes this franchise tick: the friendly yellow Transformer known as Bumblebee. Paramount hired “Kubo and the Two Strings” director Travis Knight to helm the ‘80s-set “Bumblebee” prequel, with a script penned by Christina Hodson. What Hodson and Knight bring to the film — which was previously missing from the franchise — is heart, honing in on the relationships and emotional connections that actually make us care about the talking robot cars from outer space. Hailee Steinfeld stars as Charlie, a music-obsessed 18-year-old who wakes up to the Smiths and has quite the enviable collection of band T-shirts. She’s mourning the loss of her father, pouring herself into working on his classic car. All she wants is her own set of wheels, so when a dusty yellow VW Beetle shows up at the junkyard, she finagles a way to take it home. Much to her surprise, the little beater morphs into a scared, quivering, giant robot, whom she dubs Bumblebee. Bumblebee is initially voiced by Dylan O’Brien, a wee Transformer sent by the Autobot resistance to protect Earth from the Decepticons. During an ugly clash, his vocal machinery is damaged, so Charlie gives him his voice back with an AM/FM radio he learns to use for communication. All audiences need to know about the context of the Autobot/ Decepticon war that’s landed Bumblebee here: Two Decepticons in the form of muscle cars land on Earth to destroy him, and in doing so, they infiltrate the U.S. Army’s resources. They’re hoping to find the rest of the Autobots, and presumably, at some point, plunder Earth for resources. It’s during the melee that Charlie truly comes into her own. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

A DOG’S WAY HOME

PG, 96 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. With the proliferation of dog movies in the past couple of years, it’s no surprise that the astonishing animal journey film would soon resurface. Joining the canon is “A Dog’s Way Home.” It’s based on a book by W. Bruce Cameron, who also wrote the source material for last year’s “A Dog’s Purpose.” The film, directed by Charles Martin Smith and co-written by Cathryn Michon and Cameron, uses simple, formulaic storytelling to spin the tale