Bob’s Burgers Movie, The

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Bob’s Burgers Movie, The
• a review of Bob’s Burgers Movie, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 25 May 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Bob (voice of H. Jon Benjamin) had a dream of opening up a wonderful burger place where people would flock for a taste of his incredible and unusual burger combinations. He and his wife, Linda (voice of John Roberts), made the dream a reality but when they begin to have trouble making payments to the bank and are denied an extension on their loan, Bob is faced with the loss of his dreams and wonders how things could possibly get any worse. Despite Linda’s perky hopefulness, Bob doesn’t have to wait very long. When a giant sinkhole opens up right in front of their shop, customers are unable to get in and Bob and Linda are unable to sell any burgers. The couple are told that it won’t be long before the hole is filled in but when their youngest daughter, Louise (voice of Kristen Schaal), accidentally falls in and discovers a body, the sinkhole turns into a crime scene and it looks like the bank will foreclose before customers will be able to get back into their shop. When their landlord, Calvin Fischoeder (voice of Kevin Kline), is charged with the murder, Louise, along with her sister Tina (voice of Dan Mintz) and brother Gene (voice of Eugene Mirman), set off to save their dad’s dream; to prove that Calvin is innocent; and bring the real murderer to justice.

Murder; Bullying; Family greed; Oppressive debt and pending foreclosure.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Shadows are shown struggling and a shot is fired.
• Louise thinks of ways to get back at a bully: shooting her out of a cannon, karate chopping her or letting her get attacked by a shark.
• Forensic investigators throw mud at a police officer.
• Linda punches Bob “in the nuts” twice.
• The kids ask questions about who a group of people might be likely to ‘shiv’.
• Two carnival workers wrestle on the ground.
• Carnival workers chase Bob and Linda in a threatening way as the pair tries to get off the pier without being seen.
• A lawyer points a spear gun at the kids and later at their parents and Mr. Fischoeder as well.
• Bob and his family manage to escape in a car but they are pursued, shot at and crashed into numerous times before ultimately being buried alive.
• Bob repeatedly tries to smash his way out of the car.
• Mr. Fischoeder and his brother are forced to enter a submarine at spear point and are trapped in the ocean.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• When Louise falls into a dark sinkhole she is clearly scared and is trying desperately to climb out when her foot gets caught and she dislodges a skeleton that falls on top of her. The skeleton’s grotesque skull and bones are portrayed larger than life and, as Louise screams, the skeleton’s rotten teeth fall into her mouth, choking her. The scene is both disturbing and disgusting and could potentially frighten many young children.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Louise, Gene and Tina are threatened by a lawyer with a spear gun who seems intent on killing them once he realises that they know who he is. They, along with their parents, manage to escape but are relentlessly pursued in the creepy darkness underneath an amusement park ride. The family is hit from behind and crashed into numerous times by the crazed-looking lawyer. Eventually they drive straight off the pier and into the sand in a last ditch effort to get away. They are shot at and one of their tyres is taken out. The car is so badly damaged that they are unable to get out of it and are still trapped inside when they are shoved into the sinkhole and buried alive. The family begins to panic when they realise there is no way out and it seems that they are running out of air. Eventually they come up with a plan to drive down and try to break the water pipe to get people’s attention. They manage to get out but some children may be upset by the intensity of the scene and the threat to the whole family.

• Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• One of the kids makes a reference to the TV show, ‘Law and Order’.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Tina has a crush on a boy at school and says, “walk away so I can see what’s shakin’ in the backside of his pants”.
• Two boys are wrestling and one says, “not to touch my penis area”.
• Tina notes some, “sexy zombies”.
• Louise repeats the saying that babies don’t go into holes they come out of holes.
• Linda fashions her pink bikini to a hamburger costume to make a ‘sexy burger’. This is done in an effort to try to get more customers for Bob, telling him that, “sex sells”.
• A character is told to get her head out of her boobs.
• Tina has a fantasy of her crush shaking his butt at her.
• Mr. Fischoeder twists the nipples on a bronze statue in order to open it. This is later referred to as a ‘nipple twisty’.
• When Bob says they will need to do some grinding to get out of the sinkhole, Tina asks if it is grinding like sexy dancing.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Tina has a fantasy about her crush taking off his pants and riding bareback in his underwear with her on a beach.
• Gene has a fantasy where he is performing, without a shirt, on stage in a rock concert.
• Two characters wonder if a giant squid is trying to mate with them.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Linda drinks wine at dinner with the family.
• A carnival worker asks the kids if they are there to buy drugs.
• Carnival workers drink beer during their morning off.
• The kids discover Mr. Fischoeder’s secret room and bar under one of the amusement park rides. Here the adults are drinking gin, amongst other things.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• “Shit” is implied but not stated in song lyrics.
• Crap
• Damn it
• Sucks
• Friggin
• Kiss ass
• Son of a butt.

In a nutshell

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is an animated adventure based on the TV series, Bob’s Burgers. The film contains an action-packed plot, full of twists and turns but, due to the content, it is not a family film. Instead it is better suited to older tween, teen and mature audiences.

The main messages from this movie are to believe in your dreams, be true to yourself and to never give up.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Bravery
• Hopefulness
• Persistence
• Insightfulness
• Creativity.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Skipping school and going off without telling anyone where you are going.
• Trying to solve crimes on your own and not calling police for backup.
• Using violence as a means to solve conflict.
• Framing someone else for a crime that you committed.