The worry when a beloved tv series tries on full-length feature film for size is less ‘Will it be bad’ than ‘Will it be necessary.’ The exact trap BB creator Loren Bouchard falls into with this perfectly pleasant, decidedly fun, tuneful, and largely unnecessary extension of the brand. With a touch of tweaking on well-known characters (Bob, famille & diner looking rounder and more angular - something to do with a fussy use of shadows); major action sequences seemingly bumped-up to full animation frame-rates (or looking that way); more polished writing & production on the songs (a meet-the-characters number suspiciously like Fagin’s ‘I’m Reviewing the Situation’ from OLIVER!); three more ‘poop’ jokes than needed; and so on. Two main story lines converge to save the family restaurant: Bob missing payments on a bank loan and on rent to Mr. Fischoeder* just as a sink hole in front of his restaurant sinks any chance for an extension; the hole also opening storyline #2: a murder mystery for the three kids to solve. Anyone who’s enjoyed the past decade of half-hour tv shows should enjoy the film. But newbies would be well advised to binge-watch any random three episodes. More fun, more laughs, more welcoming family vibe, more outliers finding their own way to some sort of victory; in half an hour less time.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Odd that Kevin Kline, who voices Fischoeder and is a multi-Tony-winning musical-comedy star (among his many other accomplishments), doesn’t get a note to sing.
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