Will the Bobs Burgers movie stream on Hulu?

As the month continues, new films and shows continue to premiere across the countless streaming services, and in a rare move a highly-anticipated title is available on multiple platforms. 20th Century's The Bob's Burgers Movie is now available for streaming, and can be found in two different places. The fan-favorite feature film is now streaming on both HBO Max and Hulu, free to stream for subscribers to either platform. Long delayed not only by the COVID-19 pandemic but also the merger of 20th Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company, fans of the Emmy-winning animated series can now watch the movie at any time they choose. 

Though not exactly a runaway hit at the box office, the film barely crossed $30 million at the domestic box office and made little impression internationally, the movie was largely a hit with critics and the audiences that did see it. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an 87% approval rating and a "Certified Fresh" distinction, with the critical consensus reading: "The Bob's Burgers Movie offers all the heart, humor, and clever callbacks that fans of the show will be looking for while remaining an entertaining entry point for the unconverted." The Audience Rating for the film even matched the Critic's score, specifically pointing out that new fans will love the movie and long-time viewers will also find it rewarding. 

The Bob's Burgers Movie 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 and Linda struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids 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.  

For newcomers to the series that still want to get in on the fun of the movie, the cast had some suggestions on where to get started. Series star H. Jon Benjamin previously shared with Variety: "I would probably go to one of the Thanksgiving episodes as a primer for what the family is like and the dynamic between them. Any one of the holiday episodes is usually a good indicator of the spirit of the show. Something always goes wrong, and then they come together and sort of fix it, but not quite."  

"I love all the holiday episodes, it's nice to think people are more open on a holiday like Thanksgiving, and everyone's sitting around the TV and relaxing," John Roberts added. "So I think that's a good one to start with, 'Dawn of the Peck.'"

One of the year’s finest and funniest animated features is making its streaming debut quite soon, as Hulu announced today that The Bob’s Burgers Movie will be joining the rest of the beloved series on the streaming service on July 12, 2022. Additionally, the film will also stream simultaneously on HBO Max. It’s a quick turnaround for the film, which hit theaters in the U.S. only a few weeks ago, on May 27, 2022.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie faced fairly stiff competition at theaters against Top Gun Maverick in particular, and as a significantly more cult show than the likes of The Simpsons, it was never likely to gross $100 million. It has grossed $32 million in theaters to date, beating some of its modest projections for a total that is still likely mildly disappointing for creators who may have been expecting more of a cross-appeal hit. The film reviewed quite well, though, and it very much captures the heart of the series, while vastly expanding the detail of the animation and character models. Also: It’s packed with ridiculously catchy songs, the opening number of which you can view at the bottom of this article.

The show’s creator (and the film’s writer-director) Loren Bouchard, said the following: “We’re so happy that the fans have been able to find us and watch us and binge us as much as they want on Hulu. Our fantasy is that we have to send over a new copy of the Bob’s movie to Hulu because their copy gets all worn out from people watching it so much.”

Somehow, we have a feeling that many loyal Bob-ists who didn’t catch the film during its initial theatrical run will indeed be wearing it out on repeat viewings very soon. In the meantime, check out the tune “Sunny Side Up Summer” below.

Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie', A Cinematic Continuation Of The Popular Manga and Anime Series

In a summer where Beavis and Butthead went to space and so many others traversed the multiverse, The Bob’s Burgers Movie – now on Hulu and HBO Max – is refreshingly small-scale. But in the context of the endlessly charming, long-running TV series that inspired it, the movie’s HUGE, with a more dynamic visual palette and murder-mystery plot pushing the ever-loving Belcher family farther outside the burger-diner than ever before. So this five-times-as-long-as-the-usual-episode movie version of Bob’s Burgers definitely hits the sweet spot for fans’ expectations.

THE BOB’S BURGERS MOVIE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: SIX YEARS AGO. WONDER WHARF. Only stuffed animals witness the violence, their mouths frozen agape, eyes empty. PRESENT DAY: Bob’s (voice of H. Jon Benjamin) poops have been loose lately, poor guy. He’s fretting intestinally because the restaurant loan payment is due in a week and they don’t have any money. Wait – you do know who Bob Belcher is, right? The owner and head chef at Bob’s Burgers, which he runs with his wife, Linda (John Roberts), while their three children, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman) and Louise (Kristen Schaal) fart around amusingly? They’re the cutest, funniest and probably fartiest fam on TV since 2011. They’re tight. Very supportive. Know each other well. Respectful to each other in a lovely and very eccentric way. Buncha lovable weirdos, the Belchers.

Anyway, they’re always pretty much broke, so Bob and Linda’s current dilemma isn’t at all atypical. Ditto for the kids, who get subplotted before the bigger plot pulls ’em away: Tina, as obsessed with boys’ butts as ever, wants lispy doof Jimmy Jr. (also Benjamin) to be her summer boyfriend. Louise has an existential crisis about her omnipresent bunny-ears hat after a cruel schoolmate calls her a baby, making us wonder if this movie might let us see her unhatted for the first time ever. And Gene just wants to siiiiinnnnnggggg; specifically, he’d love to see his band, the Itty Bitty Ditty Committee, play the Octa-Wharfiversary, a weeklong shebang celebrating eight decades of the Wonder Wharf, the neighborhood sub-Coney Island pier amusement park. The bank just told Bob and Linda they can’t have an extension for their loan payment, so they bear down to sell a lot of burgers during the celebration, and hopefully not lose the restaurant and end up living out in the alley with the raccoons.

Par for the Belcher course, this is the precise moment when a massive sinkhole opens up directly in front of the door to the restaurant. But a big juicy opportunity presents itself when Louise finds a corpse in the sinkhole – such is the irony of existence, ain’t it? – because, what with one thing and another, it may allow the kids to hopefully find the murderer and get on the good side of their implicated rich landlord Mr. Fischoeder (Kevin Kline), thus kicking the can of their financial struggles down the street. That’s the kids’ plan, at least, which they pursue without their parents knowing. Meanwhile, Bob and Linda get some help from their pal and regular burger eater Teddy (Larry Murphy), who’s a sweetheart, as ever, and builds them a burger cart so they can take their greasy-griddle show right over to the pier for the Wharfiversary. Does Teddy steal the show? (He always steals the show.) Will Bob and Linda lose the restaurant? (Season 13 of the series looms on the fall schedule, so probably not, unless this movie aims to dramatically disrupt the continuity of the Burgersverse.) Does Louise’s hat come off? (I can’t answer that – NO SPOILERS here thank you).

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The Simpsons Movie, Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, etc. But no animated-series-to-cinema adaptation is likely to surpass South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut for the most big laughs.

Performance Worth Watching Hearing: Larry Murphy is always and forever the Bob’s Burgers MVP. He makes Teddy – a fix-it guy and burger junkie who’s the oddest and strangest of odd strange birds, but in a wonderfully gentle way – one of the greatest supporting comic-relief characters on TV, in the Hall of Fame with Newman, Mrs. Ochmonek and Larry, his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl.

Memorable Dialogue: Bob laments his gross lack of luck once the sinkhole becomes a “crime hole”:

Bob: I don’t think they fill in crime holes very quickly.

Gene: Crime hole.

Bob: Gene.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: The joy of Bob’s Burgers, in episodic or cinematic form, is its tonal perfection and kind-spiritedness, its not-quite-dead deadpan, warmly eccentric characters and ability to churn amusingly inconsequential conflict out of its simple premise: Family of working-class restaurateurs barely gets by. The Bob’s Burgers Movie doesn’t really raise the stakes – besides hinging on an untimely death; godspeed, dear carnie Cotton Candy Dan – but broadens the scope a bit, de-flattening the Belchers’ surroundings with complex 3-D shots, dropping them into bigger set pieces (e.g., the Fischoeders’ secret clubhouse) and even throwing in a car chase. Which is, of course, one of the more ridiculous car chases you’ll ever see.

But that’s about as ambitious as it gets, which is just fine. We don’t need the Belchers to venture too far outside their small, idiosyncratic world, nor do they need to risk their lives to save it. Not to reveal too much, but there’s a scene where they’re trapped in a tight, dark spot and all hope seems to be lost, and the tiny treasure of the moment is when Linda, clad in a bikini stretched over a poofy hamburger-mascot costume, just wants to hold her kids’ hands. Such is the emotional generosity of the series, the foundation beneath its endearingly kooky comedy.

The film stays true to the TV formula, bringing in familiar recurring characters for cameos and deploying its signature loony musical bits. The latter are expanded, and key components of the plot, with a catchy early number, “Sunny Side Up Summer,” establishing individual character conflicts, a middle one quite entertainingly set in a travel-trailer commune dubbed Carnieapolis, and a late one functioning as the narrative of the talking killer, whose spiel is drawn out to ludicrous lengths. But that’s as satirical as the movie gets, which is also just fine. Bob’s Burgers never strives to be topical or edgy – we have The Simpsons for that, still – preferring to keep its universe microcosmic, whether on TV or at the cinema.

Will you stream or skip the super-sized movie version of the beloved TV show #TheBobsBurgersMovie on @hulu?#SIOSI

— Decider (@decider) July 13, 2022

Our Call: STREAM IT. I’ve gone this entire review without making a single food analogy for The Bob’s Burgers Movie. That was deliberate. And that’s how much respect I have for this wonderful franchise. Let this movie open your eyes to the tiny Bob’s Burgers world, or further enrich your appreciation for it.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.

Where can I stream the new Bob's Burgers movie?

Is the Bob's Burger movie on any streaming service?