The best way to describe The Bob’s Burgers Movie is that it is a delight! From the moment we get our first musical number, it is clear that we are in for something special. Either that, or it sure is nice to see a 2D-animated feature on our big screen. Whatever the case, The Bob’s Burgers Movie is a perfect way to ring in the summer, and then some. I am not someone who has heavily watched the Fox series from which this film spun itself from, so I cannot call myself a fan, yet after watching Bob’s, I find myself wanting to immerse myself into its quirky world. For those who are not aware, Bob’s Burgers takes place in a fast-food burger joint run by the Belcher family, led by patriarch Bob (Voice of H. Jon Benjamin), with the help of his overly-positive wife, Linda (Voice of John Roberts), and his three children, the fun-loving Gene (Voice of Eugene Mirman), mischievous Louise (Voice of Kristen Schaal), and deep-voiced, socially-awkward Tina (Voice of Dan Mintz) as they deal with all sorts of mishaps. While the show was aimed for adults, one thing that separates the Belchers from the likes of Family Guy‘s Griffin family, or the titular Simpsons is how much the Belcher family loves each other, and manages to stand by each other, even when the chips are down. You could even say that, despite its crude humor, you could probably watch this show around your kids, as it is not raunchy enough to require putting them to bed.
The movie itself is on the same wavelength of mild crude humor and wholesome family values that a family outing could be suggested, if one feels comfortable with taking the kids. Bob’s is PG-13, but it doesn’t seem to be breaking out of its barrier of television-appropriate content. That’s not necessarily a bad thing either as it proves itself to be an entertaining film, if not for pushing its length a bit too far.
Bob’s sees the Belcher’s preparing for summer with their own plans, yet with only seven days to pay off the loan on their restaurant and failure to get an extension, tensions to keep up are high, causing Bob to worry to the point of a nervous breakdown, with Linda trying to brighten his spirits. On top of that, a giant sinkhole opens up at the front of their restaurant, causing their business to lose traction. While Bob and Linda struggle to keep their business afloat, Louise sees the sinkhole as an opportunity to break out of her self-conscious image and brings Gene and Tina along to help solve the mystery of the sinkhole and help their parents save their restaurant.
While being an animated-comedy, Bob’s is also part-musical with a few catchy, albeit off-key songs, and part-murder-mystery with the dead body of a Wonder Wharf carny setting up the adventure and their landlord Calvin Fischoeder (Voice of Kevin Kline) being a major suspect. Through its meshing of genres, Bob’s is simplistic in story and location, but the humor is what gives the film its fuel to thrive. It’s not as expressively outrageous as The Simpsons Movie, its humor stems from a sort of natural dilemma and stakes that any family trying to fix things would go through. The animation is also well-rendered as it literally casts a shadow on its characters whether it be a bright, sunny day or a dark night at home. Its style is fit for the screen, even if there was not a need to make a movie.
I assume Bob’s Burgers was made into a movie because of the surprise popularity of the cartoon, but no matter, it makes for a really fun movie, and a good way to spend almost two hours, that fans will really love and will make non-fans (like myself) and/or newcomers more likely to come around to the cartoon
GRADE: A-
Jon Spencer Reviews 