The Fox animated comedy Bob’s Burgers has had a wildly successful run so far, debuting back in 2011 and recently wrapping its whopping 12th season in the air. The Belcher family is blessing us with more laughs and musical numbers with Loren Bouchard & Bernard Derriman upcoming animated movie, which is appropriately titled The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Reviews for the flick have started rolling in, see what critics are saying about the animated feature.
Over the years, a number of beloved animated shows have been adapted for film, such as The Simpsons and South Park. The pressure was definitely on for The Bob’s Burgers Movie, so what did critics think? CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg gave the movie 4 stars, praising it for feeling true to the beloved animated series without trying to over complicate the plot. As he put it,
The Bob’s Burgers Movie is a success for many of the same reasons why the show has grown to be so popular in the last 11 years. The dynamic between the strange members of the Belcher family strikes the exact right balance of sweet, weird, dark, and goofy, and the film finds a great story to tell to mix all of those elements together. Fans will adore it, and while it won’t convert any haters, it so well represents the best elements of the series that it may inspire on-and-off-again viewers to firm up their fanhood.
The Bob’s Burgers Movie’s way of staying true to its TV show roots was also praised by THR’s Frank Scheck, who was impressed with how the film adaptation managed to capture the same feeling as the long-running animated sitcom. As he shared,
Definitely hewing to the ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ philosophy regarding big-screen versions of long-running television shows, The Bob’s Burger Movie should well satisfy devotees. Which begs the question: When will Seth MacFarlane finally get around to making that Family Guy movie?
I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a Family Guy theatrical movie? Both that show and Bob’s Burgers are known for inserting musical numbers into its beloved episodes, and that’s a tradition that was continued with the upcoming movie. IndieWire’s Kate Erbland praised the songs in her review (giving the movie a B), but actually wanted to see more musical numbers. In her words,
The series often dips into musical elements (in 2017, Sub Pop released an album containing all 107 songs from the first six seasons, including performances by St. Vincent, The National, and Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields) and The Bob’s Burger’s Movie includes a show-stopping opener and a wonderfully wacky song-and-dance involving the local carnie population. While the song’s scores recur throughout the feature, Bouchard and Derriman demure from letting the entire thing go big! splashy! musical!, which feels like a missed opportunity to do something really special. (In short: Make an all-musical feature next, you cowards!)
While The Bob’s Burgers Movie was no doubt written in a way that newcomers could appreciate the animated movie, it sounds like it’s also a love letter to the TV series. The AV Club’s Alison Foreman praised how many bits and characters from the show ended up appearing throughout the film adaptation, saying:
Many of the subplots nested within these character introductions also bump against plots explored in the series. (‘Bob Actually,’ ‘Itty Bitty Ditty Committee,’ ‘Food Truckin,’ and many others come to mind.) But taking a “greatest hits” approach with this particularly well-populated fictional town does make practical sense. The Bob’s Burgers Movie can’t functionally change too much about the characters’ inside the animated snow globe that is its serialized namesake, so instead it picks them up, plays with them, and then puts them back like you would a Kuchi Kopi or Horselain.
Meanwhile, Collider’s review of The Bob’s Burgers Movie gave the project a B rating. Why didn’t critic Ross Bonaime give it an A? Seemingly because the movie doesn’t innovate too much, and instead feels like one long episode of the beloved TV series. In his words,
The Bob’s Burgers Movie isn’t exactly breaking new ground for this world and these characters, but instead, is showing how impeccably crafted and brilliant this world is when it’s firing on all cylinders. By focusing on the Belcher family and exploring their individual stories in interesting ways, The Bob’s Burgers Movie proves that the Belchers are one of the most wonderful families in animation history.
IGN also gave The Bob’s Burgers Movie a positive review, especially for just how many jokes are squeezed into the project’s 102-minute runtime. As critic Siddhant Adlakha put it,
With rapid-fire jokes that only occasionally outstay their welcome, The Bob’s Burgers Movie is charming, inoffensive summer fun. It’s part mystery, part musical, and a fully concentrated dose of the animated sitcom as it approaches its 13th season.
Luckily for fans new and old, audiences will get to judge The Bob’s Burgers Movie for themselves shortly. The project will hit theaters on May 27th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.