Critics Have Seen Bird Box Barcelona, See What They’re Saying About The Netflix Sequel
Blindfolds on or off?
Considering 2019’s Bird Box remains one of Netflix’s biggest hits of all time, it wasn’t a surprise when it was announced that a spinoff was in the works. With the new entry in the apocalyptic world set to be new on Netflix later this week, critics have shared their thoughts on Bird Box Barcelona, and they seem mixed on the new movie.
Bird Box Barcelona is not so much a sequel, but a spinoff of the Sandra Bullock-led movie that tells a new story set in a dystopian future where humanity must cover their eyes from an entity that can inspire one to take their own life. Let’s start this roundup on the positive end with Marco Vito Oddo’s thoughts for Collider. Here’s what he thought:
Oddo praised the Spain-set film for tackling some deep topics with its horror concept. He called Bird Box Barcelona much better than the original movie “in every way.” In the same vein, The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager declared it more enjoyable than the film that created the viral Bird Box Challenge. Here’s what he had to say:
With those words in mind, it’s not like critics thought the first Bird Box was a masterpiece. The original movie received mixed reception from critics and audiences, despite it breaking a ton of streaming records on Netflix. CinemaBlend’s Bird Box review at the time gave the movie a middling three out of five stars, calling it “cinematically rocky and tonally unsound.” Going back to Bird Box Barcelona, Variety’s Dennis Harvey actually thought the spinoff pulled “less punch” than the 2019 movie, writing this:
Bird Box Barcelona follows a father, Mario Casas’ Sebastián and his daughter Alejandra Howard’s Anna as they navigate the dystopian world in Barcelona, Spain. The movie was filmed in Spain in the Spanish language, with the option for viewers to watch the dub if they please. Bloody Disgusting’s Meagan Navarro didn’t feel like the story was deep enough, sharing these words:
It sounds like there’s a lot of things going on in the spinoff, between religious themes, new characters and horror moments that seek to match the original film. Empire’s James Dyer recommended audiences skip the latest big title set to become available on Netflix this Friday. Here’s some of his comments:
Perhaps Bird Box isn’t meant to expand its storyline. Or perhaps you’ll fall into the camp of the reviewers who enjoyed the movie. Critics are mixed here, so form your own opinions about Bird Box Barcelona when it drops on Netflix this Friday, July 14.
CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.