Of course... The Simpsons did it. A Cartoon Family of five with a fat husband obsessed with eating while being dumb, the caring wife managing and holding it all together, the bratty son becoming the focus of the show and his hyper intelligent sister. Add to this a little Family Guy and have a speaking pet that is a kind of fifth family member. Done! Its all been there before in various forms.
BUT... Gumball takes the basic recipe and puts it on speed. This show is hypercreative, speaking to all generations, extremely silly and equally deep and heartwarming. The characters are sweet and have so many layers. Goldfish Darwin with his childish voice and sweet character is just lovely. Mother Nicole is carrying the family by working double shifts and walking the razors edge between caring and loving and being seriously stressed and angry as well as intimidating. Little sister Anais is the know-it-all that has to put sense into the zany brains of her brothers and find solutions to minimize the collateral damage of their shenanigans.
That is just the Watterson family in the universe of Elmore where EVERYTHING has a character and feelings. Objects are singing,dancing and revolting just like the planets and stars do. Every character has his own animation style and a lot of thought has been put into how these styles convey the characters strengths and weaknesses. The animation style is just over the top creative with a beautiful photorealistic 3D world that includes everything from 3D animated characters like Bobert the robot or the tyrannosaur, claymation characters, a family of balloons with drawn on faces, real characters like the superintendent or the news speaker and kind of handcrafted from cardboard characters like Larry who is the only person in Elmore working hundreds of jobs, characters drawn on a piece of paper or illustrated like old style 30ies cartoons. Theres flowers, clouds, ghosts, bombs with a short fuse, a giant with a witch mother or utterly silly characters like Sussie who is basically a real upside down chin face with glued on googly eyes in a dress. Then there is Banana Joe and his insane family of bananas and a crazy mother who can draw the future. The whole world is insanely colourful and diverse.
Same goes for the stories... what they touch on in those short 10 minute episodes is stunning and often reminds me of a lighter version of South Park in its complexity and analysis of problems from childrens perspectives and then adding utter sillyness on top of it that is pushing many basic and wellknown ideas to new extremes.
If you love cartoons like Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park you need to give this show a chance. There are so many refreshing perspectives in here, so many heartwarming moments like the sweet backstory of Darwins genesis in "The Origins" or Nicoles story in "The Choices". There are so many references to internet culture... they even have a character for the internet who is an angry computer living in his moms basement. I love, love, love this show and i have never seen a show taking so much creative freedom in simply choosing whatever style of animation they consider most fitting to their plots and ideas. They even have an episode taking a deep bow to the "Don't hug me, I'm scared" doll clips and incoroporate their style in the show.
This show feels like its total artistic freedom... there is episodes that will haunt you as the show is very meta and self conscious constantly incorporating the fact that the characters feel they are in a show on TV and being watched, drawn and scripted. The depiction of Anais as both hyperintelligent and socially awkward bordering on massive cringe is just one example of how nearly every character in this show has so many sides. There is not even an evil character, which is something they use to make fun of themselves . The way they use facial expressions how ever they like is unique and a total worship of internet meme culture. When utter sillyness and hyper consciousness collide... this is what you will get. I can watch many episodes again and again if not for the plots for the detailed animation and clipshows or musicals. Gumball has pushed all my favorite shows from the throne as they are all in there. Moral Orel, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and all the insane Adultswim stuff is compressed into a show that really fits all ages and is not provocative for the sake of it but always to convey a message or a story.
Help this show to become the classic it deserves to be and watch it and spread the Gospel of Elmore. You will not find another show that explores the meaning of life with singing planets and musical numbers sung out of tune and rhythm and still conveying heartfelt emotions.
BUT... Gumball takes the basic recipe and puts it on speed. This show is hypercreative, speaking to all generations, extremely silly and equally deep and heartwarming. The characters are sweet and have so many layers. Goldfish Darwin with his childish voice and sweet character is just lovely. Mother Nicole is carrying the family by working double shifts and walking the razors edge between caring and loving and being seriously stressed and angry as well as intimidating. Little sister Anais is the know-it-all that has to put sense into the zany brains of her brothers and find solutions to minimize the collateral damage of their shenanigans.
That is just the Watterson family in the universe of Elmore where EVERYTHING has a character and feelings. Objects are singing,dancing and revolting just like the planets and stars do. Every character has his own animation style and a lot of thought has been put into how these styles convey the characters strengths and weaknesses. The animation style is just over the top creative with a beautiful photorealistic 3D world that includes everything from 3D animated characters like Bobert the robot or the tyrannosaur, claymation characters, a family of balloons with drawn on faces, real characters like the superintendent or the news speaker and kind of handcrafted from cardboard characters like Larry who is the only person in Elmore working hundreds of jobs, characters drawn on a piece of paper or illustrated like old style 30ies cartoons. Theres flowers, clouds, ghosts, bombs with a short fuse, a giant with a witch mother or utterly silly characters like Sussie who is basically a real upside down chin face with glued on googly eyes in a dress. Then there is Banana Joe and his insane family of bananas and a crazy mother who can draw the future. The whole world is insanely colourful and diverse.
Same goes for the stories... what they touch on in those short 10 minute episodes is stunning and often reminds me of a lighter version of South Park in its complexity and analysis of problems from childrens perspectives and then adding utter sillyness on top of it that is pushing many basic and wellknown ideas to new extremes.
If you love cartoons like Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park you need to give this show a chance. There are so many refreshing perspectives in here, so many heartwarming moments like the sweet backstory of Darwins genesis in "The Origins" or Nicoles story in "The Choices". There are so many references to internet culture... they even have a character for the internet who is an angry computer living in his moms basement. I love, love, love this show and i have never seen a show taking so much creative freedom in simply choosing whatever style of animation they consider most fitting to their plots and ideas. They even have an episode taking a deep bow to the "Don't hug me, I'm scared" doll clips and incoroporate their style in the show.
This show feels like its total artistic freedom... there is episodes that will haunt you as the show is very meta and self conscious constantly incorporating the fact that the characters feel they are in a show on TV and being watched, drawn and scripted. The depiction of Anais as both hyperintelligent and socially awkward bordering on massive cringe is just one example of how nearly every character in this show has so many sides. There is not even an evil character, which is something they use to make fun of themselves . The way they use facial expressions how ever they like is unique and a total worship of internet meme culture. When utter sillyness and hyper consciousness collide... this is what you will get. I can watch many episodes again and again if not for the plots for the detailed animation and clipshows or musicals. Gumball has pushed all my favorite shows from the throne as they are all in there. Moral Orel, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and all the insane Adultswim stuff is compressed into a show that really fits all ages and is not provocative for the sake of it but always to convey a message or a story.
Help this show to become the classic it deserves to be and watch it and spread the Gospel of Elmore. You will not find another show that explores the meaning of life with singing planets and musical numbers sung out of tune and rhythm and still conveying heartfelt emotions.