It's going to be compare to the other recent movie...

Rating: 4/10 (24 December 2018)

It's not fair and this movie is from a book from 2014. However, the premise to both A Quite Place and Bird Box stories is similar. Therefore, it does allow comparisons between the two.
Both films involve forces that aren't explained and really it is fine that they aren't. Both also deal with rules, that let's face it, are full of logical inconsistencies. Which, being a horror film, I am also willing to accept within reason. Actually, A Quiet Place comes far closer to pushing the inconsistencies too far than this film. Acting and technical skills are both fine. So, why does Bird Box fail?
Family issues are at the heart of the films. Bird Box just never works at that level. Bullock just never sells it. For having had kids for five years, she still seems clueless and would terrify them more than anything. They would all die. We're supposed to be happy that she finally learns to love them at the end. However, it just never feels natural.
Next, the characters in Bird Box are paint-by-the-numbers. You have the appropriate demographic spread. They check off all the boxes and you are waiting for the death box to be checked as they die. It is made all the more predictable by flashing forward to the last part of the film.
In the end, it is all uninspired and pedestrian.