The overall response to the latest Bumblebee trailer has been pretty positive overall, but filmmaker/geek guru Kevin Smith was so moved by the Transformers spinoff preview that it brought tears to his eyes.

In a tweet reacting to the trailer, Smith admitted that he hasn’t really enjoyed the previous Transformers movies, but that Bumblebee is giving him a much different reaction:

 

Part of the reason for Smith’s choked-up response could be due to the franchise returning to the original animated series’ designs, as Bumblebee depicts its titular Autobot in his classic animated style.

Bumblebee is set in 1987, 20 years prior to the events of the first Transformers film, and follows Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) a teenager excited to get her first car, only to discover that her seemingly beat-up automobile is really a robot in disguise.

Though we know Bumblebee will appear on-screen with other Transformers, not a lot of details are known about the film, though we do know that there will be an Generation 1 Optimus Prime, as well as several Decepticons.

This will be the first live-action Transformers film to be made by someone other than Michael Bay, with Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Coraline) taking over in the director’s chair. Bumblebee is the first of many planned entries in Paramount’s ‘Transformers Cinematic Universe’, with other upcoming projects including Transformers One, an origin story following the Autobots and Decepticons, and a G.I. Joe crossover film.

Bumblebee hits theatres on December 21st.

Want Goliath news delivered straight to your inbox every day? Join our mailing list now.