WesternAnimation Started off good, but became...brilliant!
I watched Gumball as a kid originally. Back then I was pulled in with the fast comedy, unique art-styles and general quote un-quote wackiness of the show. However, I grew out of the show quickly as I grew up. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just grew out of touch with it? Maybe one episode scarred me? Meh.
But, after hearing some of the weirder shit they did (Mainly "The Disaster" and "The Rerun"), I decided to check it out once more and see what the heck was going on? And honestly, I think this is a rare case of inverted Seasonal Rot.
The show, in simple terms, is aware of everything about it, and exploits and deconstructs itself constantly. The usual Broke Episode isn't JUST the characters getting broke, but the entire budget of the show slowly decreasing as the writing and animation gets lazier. If a character has been Put on a Bus, it means that the universe saw no point to them and decided to erase them from memory and the world. It lampshades tropes found in sitcoms to Phineas and Ferb levels. The characters are all exploited for what they are, whether it be comedy or drama. Like Teri, a paper bear who is constantly getting ripped, shredded and folded to show that "life sucks if you're paper". And if it's not doing things like that, then it's giving us unique episodes that you rarely see other shows do, like an in-universe YouTube binge watching session.
What started off as a decent show, might just slowly, but surely, becoming one of my personal favourite shows of all time. I'd say give it a view if you either haven't yet, or want to see what the fuss is about.
WesternAnimation A great show, well animated and extremely entertaining. In my opinion, at least.
I feel no shame that despite my age, I find this show immensely entertaining. For the sake of space I won't describe the show here. Just scroll down the page and read someone else's review for that.
I know I'm fawning here, but the characters in this show are amazing. Both the character design and their personalities are fantastic. The dynamics and relationships both within families and also with secondary characters are realistic, though definitely caricatured for comedic purposes. The art style and the integration of mediums is charming and well done, and the diverse design adds emphasis to how different each character is, along with a strange symbolic realism. The individual jokes in each episode are mostly entertaining, as well as the running gags and wordplay with the names of many characters that you might have to dig a bit more to understand. If you're a fan of comical musical numbers, then you've come to the right place in this show. You can find anything from hilarious raps to extravagant Broadway style songs here if you know where to look.
I'm hardly the first to mention Elmore's strange logic and unclear rules. The line between "people" and things is blurred at best and non-existent at worse. This odd system leads to sone blatent black comedy and even darker implications upon examination. Also,let's not forget the pizza baby from The Job. Other episodes, namely The Joy, The Picnic, and even The Name have very dark plots (though taking into account that no one truly dies in The Joy, that could be one of the happiest episodes, only seeming dark from Simian's POV because she despises happiness).
If you appreciate occasional drama in a cartoon, there's plenty here as well, though it's often somewhat dampened by the abundant comic relief. Characterization is vague and inconsistent in the early episodes, but later in the series definite personalities are present and characters change and develop. I would suggest The Hero, The Shell (obviously),and even The Man and The Kids.
And how about action? There's plenty of that too. No specific action-oriented episodes come to mind, but it is amply sprinkled throughout throughout.
While I don't have any problems with the show in general, there are a few dud episodes like in any series. All in all, a show I'd recommend to any cartoon lover.
WesternAnimation Big example of cartoons done right
The Amazing World of Gumball is a really charming show. It has creative characters and animation, very good writing, and the writers never forget to make the show appealing to the demographic yet make even the oldest of adults laugh at it's comedy. The show is very colorful and have interesting artwork that could rarely leave a child unamused just for a moment. Gumball's parents, Nicole and Richard, are both wacky and funny in their own ways, of the latter being a lazy slob but occasionally entertaining, and the former a hardcore amazon and workaholic who's really strict with her rules, yet kind-hearted deep down.
Darwin's naivete and kindness can be what sets him apart from our self-centered protagonist, and leaves a refreshing breathe of air. Heck, even their little sister Anais, who's usually very serious, can be funny.
While I think the first season episodes will always be classic, I mostly recommend season 2 and onwards. It feels like it was the time where writers felt on ground with how they should make the show and how the jokes and gags shall run. I strongly recommend episodes like "The Bet", "The Job", "The Dream" and "The Watch". And that's only the second season. Recently I watched the first season 3 episodes and it was a really promising debut, so I think it's the rare occasion where seasons will get better and better. Hopefully.
Some may find the witty humor annoying, but I find it immensely amusing and works to keep the viewer entertained until the real punchline kicks in.
I could go on forever, but here's the short version; It's a really cute, funny and charming show that keeps the overall jokes clean with occasional adult jokes slipped in. If there's a cartoon next you want to watch, watch The Amazing World of Gumball.
WesternAnimation Deeply Hilarious and Creative
Since Season 3 of this show is starting up, I feel it's about time I get around to it. I mean hell I already did review Regular Show and explained why I think Adventure Time has degenerated into an abomination, so why not the newest member of CN's triumvirate?
The Amazing World of Gumball centers around a small town called Elmore, a place where just about anything can come to life- from fish growing legs to sentient rocks and reanimated dinosaurs. Immediately watching the show gives you a sense of real diversity among the cast, with most of the cast animated and drawn in completely different styles; from standard cartooning, to 3D animation to video game sprites and even claymation. Shockingly enough all of the styles blend together seamlessly, with no character ever feeling out of place.
Most episodes center around the misadventures of Gumball, a prepubescent blue cat, and Darwin his adopted goldfish brother. Like Regular Show, most of the plots center around a seemingly simple idea ballooning into a hilariously over the top plot with epic consequences. For example one episode involves trying to get a video taken off the internet which leads to the two meeting a physical manifestation of the internet; a basement dwelling nerd computer.
The jokes, particularly in the second season, are almost always spot on. From great sight gags, good slapstick to truly hilarious fourth-wall leaning moments. For anyone interested, I'd highly recommend episodes likes 'The Sweaters', 'The Plan' and 'The Photo.' At times, weirdly enough, it does genuinely remind me of what it felt like to be a kid. From the way Darwin and Gumball can act, to the games they play, to their outlook on life. Really the only issues I have with the show is that Anais is likely going to grow into a Lisa Simpson clone with all the obnoxiousness that entails. Still, who knows, they might avoid that pitfall.
If I was to describe the evolution of the series I'd compare it to the evolution of classic Spongebob. A funny if unremarkable first season followed up with a hilarious following season that tightened up everything up and improved in all aspects. Let's hope it doesn't end up as bad as modern Spongebob in the coming seasons.
WesternAnimation Not too bad, for a new show.
Okay, this be me first review, so, here goes nothing. I apologize if I don't say much or if this sounds generic.
I have seen (and LOVE) Adventure Time and Regular Show, two of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network. But I never really saw AWOG until last summer. *
What can I say? It's got a pretty good set of characters, and pretty good animation to boot, plus, it has some of the randomness of the older Cartoon Network. Not to mention some the live-action backgrounds look nice as well. And I cannot put my finger on it, but some parts of this show invoke moments from Whatever Happened To Robot Jones. I think it's just me. To me, this show lies somewhere between So Bad Its Good and Actually Pretty Funny.
For a noob show, it's not half-bad. Anyone who claims otherwise is more than likely one of the CN's fandom's resident gewunners. *
WesternAnimation A Great Show for both Adults and Kids
This show works on both an adult and a kid level.
Gumball Watterson is a typical twelve-year-old boy (who is a blue cat) facing typical junior high school issues. His crush is a peanut with antlers. His teacher is a cranky old monkey/ape named Miss Simian. His principal is Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. His guidance counselor is a hippie cloud guy. He has to deal with a bully (a T-Rex) and a snotty girl who is a cloud. His brother Darwin is a pet goldfish that grew legs. His sister Anais is a genius four-year-old bunny. His dad is a big pink rabbit and his mom is also a blue cat. All of this is accepted at face-value as normal and unremarkable to the extent that all the visual wackiness and mix of 2D and 3D animation and live-action backgrounds become merely that, the background to the wackiness that Gumball and Darwin get in to and out of.
Kids can relate to the usual shenanigans one can expect from twelve-year-old boys in junior high. The tight writing keeps the action and the jokes coming, often from unexpected directions (such as a show about a lazy contest suddenly going into a "Sugar Rush" song with dancing sugar cubes massaging a heart in a ribcage).
What sets this show apart though is although the Wattersons are one of the most dysfunctional families ever shown on any show on TV, they truly love and care for each other. (One episode even deals with this very subject!) Richard, the father, a typical TV fat stupid guy, sits at home all day in his underwear playing video games. His incredibly competent (and may I say hot) wife Nicole works long hours at the rainbow factory to support them all. His stupidity and the boys' antics set up situations that are resolved by Nicole's forceful personality and Anais' wisdom.
There is just as much (if not more) adult drama (and references) going on here to keep the interest of us older viewers. And just look a the Radar page to see all the adult humor that gets slipped in.
So to sum up, this creatively written and made show keeps the whole family entertained on all levels!
WesternAnimation Potential Gold Mine
Gumball is a very interesting cartoon, something on the lines of Roger Rabbit but cleaner and more updated. The show itself is a sitcom. But its easy to forget that once you understand its settings. Nothing in Gumball is really supposed to make sense, but it manages to keep such a rational plot anyways its rather well. The shows popularity amongst CN viewers stems from its animation and characters. They're not entirely original but they hold their own originality to them. They're typical, and that is why it may feel not so special in characterization, its the typical kids. Typical adults. The episodes were great although lately they've been hit and miss. My favorites are generally the first ones and the ones that generally take place at home with the family. The school episodes are nice as well but i prefer the sitcom feel. The show is aimed more at kids than adults unlike its counterparts Adventure Time and Regular Show, which does feel rather unfortunate at times. Although especially in the earlier episodes, the risks it took and being under the radar deserves some shout out. It does make references here and there, so its not all kiddy. My top three favorites are the Dress, The Goons, and the Club. Yes the show has had bad episodes already and its 15 minutes long so it feels unreasonably short at times, but its cons pale to its pros . CN gives this show huge hiatuses, so its rather irritating at times. Season 2 is coming in June, and when the show is more situated will it probably ranked 1st. Presently its the seconded most viewed show. CN treats it oddly though, its airing times are awful and should just be on Fridays. Yet they promote it like its perfect. Point is, see the episodes. Disregard episodes like the Genius or the Picnic or the Poltergeist or the Sock they'll either bore you or irritate you, but all the others are near perfect. The music is very nice. Nonetheless, one of the best shows on CN right now
WesternAnimation Weird, But Enjoyable.
Cartoon Network's been a roller coaster in terms of quality programming in the past five years. On the positive end of the spectrum, you have Symbionic Titan, Adventure Time, and the Too Good To Last Robotomy. On the negative end, there's stinkers like Almost Naked Animals and The Problem Solverz.
Then there's one strange little show called The Amazing World Of Gumball. To say the least, it's a pleasant show with some good moments in it.
It's hard to describe this show in less than 400 words, so...
The main character is a blue cat named Gumball, and his "brother," a goldfish named Darwin. Every episode relies on their little misadventures.
The show reminds me of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, with how the characters are animated against live-action backgrounds. If you're not familiar with the style, it might throw you off at first. I think that it's an interesting art form for animation, but not something that should be abused, which this show doesn't.
My favorite episode has to be "The Goons." Gumball's little sister, Anais, who is a genius, wants to be stupid like her dad and brothers. Eventually, they win her over, and Gumball gets jealous. To settle things, they have a race of several less-than-intelligent characters. The race has some of the funniest moments in cartoon history, including when one character, who is a piece of toast, ends up falling in a pond, where it cuts to live-action ducks eating him.
Characterization isn't too strong, but then again, you can't have everything from a kids' cartoon. Oh how I miss Hey Arnold for all its character development...
It's absurd, outlandish, and unique, and if you're bored on a Monday night, you might as well tune in to Cartoon Network and have a few chuckles.
This wasn't my strongest review, but hey, it's hard to perfectly review anything.
WesternAnimation One of the best cartoons I've ever seen but
Yes this is as biased as it sounds but I'd like to do something a bit different. I'm going to rate each season and see if by memory it holds up.
Season 1: Ah humble times. Season 1 is the very definition of Early Installment Weirdness. Gumball was actually nice, the series focused more on gross out humor, and the tone was much sillier. But despite nostalgia there's a reason this is not the most beloved Season Pros: Wholesome, likable main character Cons: The animation was rough, the stories were even more sitcommy, Gumball and Darwin are too dumb, the gross out humor is pretty vulgar and I don't like it, Anais did nothing in this Season, Richard was just an eviler Homer Simpson, Gumball and Darwin were not accurate depictions of kids in middle school more like Elementary School Overall while it has a place in my heart I do not consider this Season official. Think of it as the Yugioh Season 0 of cartoons. Yeah its cool but compared to the rest it sticks out. 6/10 Season 2: This was the exact point TAWOG actually began. There's still a lot of problems but overall it's an improvement Pros: Better animation, jerkass Gumball, writing that feels finished, Richard took a huge level in kindness, the class of Elmore Jr. High are actually interesting characters now, Anais is a character now, the humor is actually entertaining now, the wonderful skit episodes begin here Cons: jerkass Gumball (he's both a blessing and a curse), the family outside of Richard and Darwin became quite horrible people (too many examples to list but The Hero and the episode where Nicole abuses Gumball to make him a winner stick out) the town is far too jerkass by this point, Penny and Gumball didn't have enough episodes, Christmas was a pointless episode about saving Christmas yet again and learning that Santa isn't real OH NO 8/10 Season 3: This can also be seen as a starting point for those who hated Season 2. This is also where the infamous Calarts redesign (comeon its not that bad there's shows using worse versions of that style) kicks in. Pros: Gumball took a level in kindness (for the most part), the new voice actors brought life into Gumball and Darwin, Anais finally has a role in the series and darn it she is so relatable, :( The Void is introduced and starts the series' plot, Rob is an unexpected for a comedy great villain, the sitcommy plots became even better and even in some cases like in The Shell emotional, Gumball and Penny are an adorable couple Cons: Gumball and Darwin might act a little too kiddy in this Season, Patrick is a terrible father to Penny, I don't think the other side-characters got as much screen time here than in other Seasons 8/10 Season 4: Now here's when the show hits its peak. Season 4 is borderline the most refined Season of the show and is my personal favorite. Pros: Gumball's an even bigger jerk but makes up for it by becoming genuinely sweet, Darwin's flaws are finally shown which made him far more interesting, the pop-culture jokes have been finely woven into the series like a badge of honor, the plot finally gets somewhere and was one of the most compelling meta-narratives I've seen since Gravity Falls, The Origins 2 part special and season finale/season 5 premiere episode duology are among the best episodes of children's television I've ever seen since the Foster's Home tv movies, the youtube episode, the anime episode, they finally got the satire started in Season 3 down to a T Cons: Yeah this plot is really confusing sometimes, The Wattersons can now all of a sudden shift into Always Sunny levels of everyone is horrible whose affected episodes really sticks out when they have built the characters up with development, the few bad episodes are really bad, this is where meme humor starts I like it but its not perfect, they kind of ruined Darwin in this Season with him becoming a soapbox for the writers' contentious opinions 9/10 Season 5: Yeeeeah this is the exact moment Gumball finally hit the mainstream and stopped being a niche show with bizarre teen-adult aimed writing. And where the series' demise started to happen. But first the good. Pros: Oh my god the animation actually puts most modern non-Lord-Miller/Disney films to shame now every episode is basically a short played before a theatrical movie, they continued Anais' plot with mixed results but the episodes were still funny, when it hit a joke wow I'm freaking shocked this is not a really good adult swim show, The rpg episode was one of the most respectful depiction of gaming I've seen on a tv show, The Choices is a beautiful episode not just in cartoons but tv in general Cons: They ruined Rob his one major appearance undoes all the good development his character went through, Gumball went through an arguably horrendous level in jerkass to the point he is the goddamn Gang from Always Sunny's Pet Cat, the show just wanted to become South Park and comment on both the president and politics and how our world is indeed fucked and it was never subtle, they did nothing with the show's overarching Void plot, everyone kept over-sharing the SJW battle or the time they killed their Chinese knockoffs to the point that everywhere I went Gumball Gumball hey did you see what unbelivably based and brave thing Gumball did, the show got too meanspirited you can at least argue The Wattersons were horrible in Season 2 but were justified because of the awful town now no one has an excuse it's too edgy for this cutesy aesthetic, the pop culture overran the show too hard to the point that there are episodes that are incomprehensible without knowing what they're talking about like the Star Wars Disney Trilogy satire episode, the memes have seeped too far into the shows writing to the point its damaging, Gumball and Penny have become not a good couple by this point 6/10 Season 6: The show has been announced to finally end. Did they end it with a bang? Not at the end but it was an improvement Pros: The animation its even better now its no longer the short its the feature length theatrical movie, Gumball has finally been written to a point where he's not too evil not too dumb just the right amount of awful but enjoyable jerk, the 2 lore episodes are actually good swansongs, they finally got down the pop culture thing from 5 and it's reflected Cons: They retconned The Choice's ending with a new and arguably meaner timeline in the Season premiere, Darwin has now near 100% become the soapbox for whatever the writers want to talk about in episodes about him and at least 2 episodes were devoted to this with both were awful, there was way too much filler episodes at the end after having built up in the background the series arc of The Void consuming the entire world, Darwin and Carrie is an extremely underdeveloped couple, The Parents is just emotional manipulation at its very worse that cliffhanger ending was a terrible way to ask for The Movie Overall I don't really know how to say this is one of the best cartoons of all time. Don't get me wrong it started awful and improved massively but it is pretty clear in the last 2 and first 2 seasons that they did not know what to do with this show whether it was characterization, humor, tone or plot. I'll always remember it as a classic and it's still better than most kids comedies on tv right now but when the middle half is far better than the beginning and the ending that's gonna be a pretty hard sell. It's good and quite good but flawed enough to justify slashing .5 from the 8 rating. 7.5/10