From Cartoon Network is The Amazing World of Gumball, a mixed media cartoon starring a blue cat and goldfish with legs. I was very put off by this cartoon because of the advertisements and the fact that it is created with mixed media. However, it seems that watching the commercial free DVD has found me a new show to enjoy!

The Amazing World of Gumball is very funny and features some good messages for the kids, it is comedy based so it is full of slapstick—falling on their faces and other bruising impacts for these poor characters.

The main character is Gumball, a blue cat who is put in most of the situations; these situations are dealing with bullies such as Tina the T-Rex, finding friendships while finding out that he has a good friend already and doing the right thing as with returning a DVD to a video store.
With Gumball is Darwin, a walking fish who evolved out of his bowl. Darwin is usually sensible; however he follows Gumball in his misadventures and usually ends up either saving the day or falling with his friend.

My favorite character is Nicole who is Gumball’s mom and also a blue cat, she is the only one who works in the household and is married to an idiotic pink bunny who sits around doing nothing all day. I find Nicole to be a “tragic” character because she has to put up with her kids and husband and pull everything back together after it falls apart. Nicole has a lot of anger issues and that is quite understandable because of her family and in back stories of her life growing up.

Although the backgrounds are a mix of animation and live action and the characters are a mix of CG, puppet, animation and even stop-motion; The Amazing World of Gumball is actually very well-written with only a few “dead spots” throughout some of the episodes. The show has a good balance of plot and comedy with a tiny bit of drama—the drama however, is told in a comical fashion to avoid bringing the audience down amidst the chaos.

The Amazing World of Gumball DVD features 12 “15” minute episodes and a basic special feature called “Meet the Wattersons” which tells a quick description of the family of main characters.
The picture is DVD clear and the sound is very interesting—sometimes you can hear a background as though it is in surround.

Own The Amazing World of Gumball on DVD, August 28th 2012!

GRADE: A- (I really did enjoy the show and now watch it on TV, but there are subtle issues with the “dead spots” that are noticeable).

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