The Bob’s Burgers Movie is an animated musical comedy-mystery-adventure based on the long-running, Emmy® award-winning series. After a ruptured water main creates a sinkhole in front of Bob’s Burgers and blocks the entrance, Bob and Linda Belcher struggle to keep the business afloat, and the kids try to solve a mystery that could save the restaurant.

For in-depth thoughts on The Bob’s Burgers Movie, please see my colleague Brandon Lewis’ review from its theatrical release here.

For an in-depth look at the Limited Edition SteelBook packaging, please see the video below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkVoUmw2oJY]

Video Quality

The Bob’s Burgers Movie comes to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a 2160p transfer that is super crisp with an eye-popping amount of depth. The show looks very good when I watch it on Hulu, but you can tell there is an extra degree of care and creativity put into the animation for this big screen adventure. This disc provides some nice improvements over the Blu-Ray in certain areas including more vivid, natural colors and the elimination of any minor banding or digital artifacting. The use of HDR yields some very pleasing enhancements to the dynamic colors on display, and the disc provides much deeper black levels for a cleaner viewing experience free of black crush. This animation style offers up very clean layouts and bold outlines, and this disc provides excellent line detail and more distinct shading, which gives the characters greater definition. The Blu-Ray disc looks great, but those with a larger display will likely find the 4K UHD Blu-Ray a more enjoyable experience.

Audio Quality

This release boasts a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that more than gets a workout during this rollicking adventure. While nothing particularly out of character happens within this story, there is no doubt that some thought was put into delivering a degree of spectacle for audiences. The most obvious example of this might be the musical numbers, which soar through your speakers with impeccable fidelity. The classic dialogue is often accompanied by all manner of sound effects, but all of the information comes through clearly without getting muddied. There is a notable amount of activity in the low-end which will vibrate your set a bit at distinct points. The track engages all of the channels with panning effects and sounds from the environment that really makes you feel like you are transported to this world. I know there is often concern about Disney audio tracks being somewhat neutered, but 20th Century Studios has done a nice job with this one even if it is not an upgraded Atmos track.

Special Features

20th Century Studios has provided The Bob’s Burgers Movie with a Limited Edition 4K UHD Steelbook that is truly lovely in person. This release is available exclusively at Best Buy and is currently the only way to own the 4K UHD physically in North America. The front artwork depicts the front of the restaurant, and the rear features a shot of the pit with the wharf in the background. The interior sports a shot of an empty restaurant kitchen. An unboxing of the SteelBook can be found above.

Audio Commentary: Voice Actors H. Jon Benjamin, John Roberts, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, Director Loren Bouchard and Writer Nora Smith start out the commentary track before switching over to Director Bernard Derriman, Production Designer Ruben Hickman and Writer Nora Smith (again). You begin the track by learning that co-star Larry Murphy could not participate due to catching COVID, but the group still seems to be in good spirits as they reflect on the process of making this film, how it differed from creating a normal episode, what they wanted to accomplish on the big screen and more. This is a terrifically fun listen that fans will not want to pass up.

Making Of The Movie: A 19-minute piece in which Loren Bouchard takes you through the journey to the big screen from the initial development of the show, the one significant character change that was made from the initial presentation, the fan’s connection to the show, the stage performances, the decision to make a movie and deciding on what that would look like, really unveiling the secrets of the town, preserving the interior lives of the characters, the importance of music to the experience, the obstacles that popped up and the team’s perseverance, and much more.

My Butt Has A Fever – Theatrical Short

- Theatrical Version: A six-minute short film that premiered in Alamo Drafthouse theaters in which Bob and Linda nearly miss a memorable performance by the kids at the school talent show that pushes the boundaries of decency in the mind of Mr. Frond.
- Animatic Version: A five-and-a-half minute rough animatic version with temporary voices delivering the lines.

Deleted Scenes

- The Movie We Didn’t Make: A six-minute featurette in which Director Loren Bouchard and Writer Nora Smith set up the trepidation they have with taking fans through some of the ideas they did not use, the process of creating rough animatics with their voices as stand-ins, the decision to not over stuff the movie with cameos from the series, and more heartbreaking cuts they had to make in order for the movie to be the best version of itself. While they are speaking, rough versions of abandoned sequences are playing underneath.

- Deleted Scenes: Three unused scenes totaling three minutes are provided here featuring Bob, Linda and Teddy going through a metal detector, a conversation with Mr. Fischoeder and more. All three scenes are provided with optional commentary from Bouchard and Smith. These are some amusing moments fans will appreciate being able to see.

Animation Extras

- Animatics: Four scenes totaling nearly 15 minutes which shows key sequences in storyboard and rough animation form, occasionally with a side-by-side comparison with the final version you see in the film. It is really cool to see how the animation evolves from its basic form.

- Animating The Scene: Three scenes totaling nearly 15 minutes which likewise shows early animation of certain moments, but this time you focus more on how the animators built on to the rough animation to get to the finished version. Each segment gets audio commentary explaining the process from Director Bernard Derriman.

Easter Egg: Not to ruin the fun of discovery, but if you want something more from this disc, try going to the Audio section under the Setup menu and press the right arrow on your remote by the language option that seems a bit fishy. Trust us, it is worth it.

Final Thoughts

The Bob’s Burgers Movie successfully navigates the perils of adapting a television show for the big screen by justifying itself from a narrative perspective beyond your typical episode while maintaining all of the things you love about the series in the first place. You have the love between the family members and other colorful characters in their environment which only enhances the huge laughs that often come out of nowhere. The vocal performances are as strong as ever, and the quality of the animation is truly dazzling and even richer than normal. 20th Century Studios has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a stupendous A/V presentation and some really fun special features all in a gorgeous package. Any fan of the show is going to need to add this one to their collection. Highly Recommended

The Bob’s Burgers Movie will be available to purchase on Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-Ray SteelBook, Blu-Ray, and DVD on July 19, 2022. The film will be available on Digital on July 12.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: 20th Century Studios has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.