Turns out Travis Knight can direct real people, too.

Knight, chief executive of Hillsboro animation studio Laika, left Oregon last year to make the newest installment in the Transformers action franchise, “Bumblebee.”

With the Transformers movies producing diminishing returns at the box office, but still costing a fortune to make, Paramount Pictures hired Knight to direct a smaller (read: cheaper), character-driven take.

The studio hoped Knight (who made his directing debut in 2016 with Laika’s Oscar-nominated animated feature “Kubo and the Two Strings”) would bring a degree of intimacy and credibility to the Transformers films, which have been roundly derided by critics.

The critics say Knight, 45, succeeded. Handily. The first 15 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes give “Bumblebee” a 100 percent rating.

“In a better, truer cinematic universe, Travis Knight would have been in charge of the Transformers franchise all along,” The Guardian wrote in its review. (Which was only warm, not ecstatic, overall – 3 of 5 stars)

The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Knight “exhibits an instinctual sense for the film’s requisite action quotient while attentively crafting the central characters’ emotional arcs.”

And IndieWire writes “Travis Knight knows how to direct a coherent action sequence” (a bar critics said prior Transformers movies rarely cleared) and says he’s made “the best Transformers movie by far.”

Bumblebee gets wide release on Dec. 21.

Knight is the son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who owns Laika. Travis Knight’s departure for “Bumblebee” appeared to delay the release of Laika’s next film, “Missing Link,” now due in theaters April 12. And his absence stalled production of another Laika film after that, leaving the future of the Oregon studio in doubt.

Hollywood websites had speculated that if “Bumblebee” were a success, Disney might hire Knight to direct the next installment of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Last week, though, Knight told an Italian website that he will return to Laika after “Bumblebee” and won’t direct the next “Guardians” film.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699