Another fan-favorite animated series receives the big-screen treatment in 20th Century Studios, The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Series creators Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman co-direct the animated, big-screen, musical comedy-mystery-adventure based on the long-running Emmy-winning series.
The story begins when a ruptured water main creates an enormous sinkhole right in front of Bob’s Burgers, blocking the entrance indefinitely and ruining the Belchers’ plans for a successful summer. While Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids Louise (Kristen Schaal), Tina (Dan Mintz), and Gene (Eugene Mirman) try to solve a mystery that could save their family’s restaurant. As the dangers mount, these underdogs help each other find hope and fight to get back behind the counter, where they belong.
Before I get into my review, I want to tell readers that I haven’t seen a single episode of Bob’s Burgers. So I walked into the film blind. Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith pen the film’s script and provide enough gags for fans and non-fans of the show. Yes, the plot is somewhat simplistic, which is all right as how deep of a story do you need to have when you have a movie about fast food?
Films buffs may remember 1986’s Hamburger: The Motion Picture, which used the teen sex comedy template to correlate with its story of a fast-food university. Bob’s Burgers is a movie that knows what it is and delivers on that. As a product, the film succeeds.
There are the fantastic voice performances from the cast and well-known actors Kevin Kline and Zach Galifianakis, the accurate quips with incredible precision, and the gags that fly by at breakneck speed on multiple levels. The ingenuity of the filmmakers plays it with elegance to a never-ending good sense of humor.
While I doubt that I will become a regular viewer of the show, I will say that The Bob’s Burgers Movie is similar to the idea behind fast food. Sometimes we all want convenience, and walking into the theater, I hoped to get some mindless laughter. In that regard, The Bob’s Burgers Movie delivered.
Final Grade: B
The Bob’s Burgers Movie is in theater now
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