Stop-Motion Master Travis Knight Brings Bumblebee to Life in New Featurette

Travis Knight is one of the most highly-regarded animators working today. The acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings director is also the President and CEO of Laika Studios. The stop-motion giant turned out instant classics like Coraline, The Boxtrolls, and ParaNorman. Above all else, Knight is an artist. He’s adept at transforming something inanimate — like the materials he builds his Laika figurines from — into something human. Paramount just released a glimpse into the magical way that Knight is transforming his animation skills to bring Bumblebee to life as the film’s director.

Last week we got our first look at the beloved Bumblebee’s younger years. Every kid remembers their first car, but it’s even more special when your first car is a Transformer. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) finds her VW Bug is something truly special and a friendship begins. Steinfeld sat for the cameras to discuss Knight’s work on set saying, “He has an incredible sense of being able to see a drawing on the page brought to life.”

The Transformers movies have always been fun and on the cutting edge of visual effects. But Knight’s ability to connect emotionally with moviegoers via his animation is what makes Bumblebee so exciting. Bumblebee has long been on of the favorite Transformers, but in this film we will get to learn about his origins in a junkyard in California.

Knight said in the video that he wants to make Bumblebee into a “Spielburgian coming-of-age” story. The relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee truly captures that excitement of being young and stumbling across a foreigner who just might become a friend. This film promises to show us the way that Bumblebee came to be the autobot we all know and love, and Knight is the perfect guiding hand to bring his experience to life.

Bumblebee cruises into theaters December 21.

Featured image: Artwork from ‘Bumblebee.’ Courtesy Paramount Pictures.