Can Bob save the restaurant yet again and is it enough to save a movie opening at the worst time possible for an animated TV show send-up?
It gives me no joy to have seen The Bob’s Burgers Movie and come away less than impressed. As a general rule, I really like the Bob’s Burgers TV show. I like that it’s grounded, I like most of the characters, I like the weirdness of the show. I did not, however, particularly care for the movie.
I wanted it to be like UHF. I wanted it to be this quirky little comedy that couldn’t compete with the other summer blockbusters but would later become a cult classic. I don’t see that in the cards of this movie. Whereas this could have been an opportunity for a big adventure that took Bob and his family across the country in some sort of once-ina-lifetime opportunity to franchise his restaurant, instead we get a rehash of a previous episode. I give the franchising cross-country trip as just one example of a number of big adventures that would have been worthy of the big screen. But without spoiling it, instead we do a Wonder Wharf redux. This is essentially a ninety minute replay of an episode that I have often thought was one of Bob’s Burgers’ weakest episodes — one that takes the grounded nature of the show and pushes it outside its proper range.
Bob’s Burgers is best when it’s about a man ready to do an interview for a regional magazine but is accidentally superglued to the toilet by a prank gone wrong. It’s a fantastic show when Bob is dragging his sister-in-law through the snow for Thanksgiving because she wants to pretend her ankle is injured. It’s not at its best when the family is in danger of death. Maybe that’s just a personal preference, but I think it strikes at the ethos of the show. And though we could have had a rollicking musical journey that culminates in utter zaniness, the movie is instead just sort of… meh.
There’s nothing wrong with the movie. The songs are okay. The animation is fine. The story is decent, I suppose. I miss Bill Hader as Mickey. It’s not worthy of the big screen though. And honestly, though I really wanted this movie to excel, I can’t recommend you spend twenty dollars going to see it when it will be available on Hulu for free.
It’s a shame really. I don’t think they phoned it in, they just really missed the mark. There are a lot of storylines in this movie but the only one that really pays off is Louise. I guess now we know why she wears those ears and we finally get to see where Bob gets his charm. It could have been done in a season finale but it was decent for a ninety minute feature that was basically painless. No real highs, no real lows. If it were included in Bob’s Burgers episodes, it wouldn’t make my top ten. But it wasn’t bad either and that means it’s at least better than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So I guess it’s Disney’s best movie of the summer yet. And it may somehow stay that way in terms of quality.
So yeah. Between a Broc and a Chard Place Burger is also one of the best burger gags there is.
Score: 4.5 / 10 — Decent
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