My boys have a DVR upstairs. Its full of
Young Justice, Mad and
Batman: The Animated Series. They like what they like.
One day I was checking the device's capacity and content and I discovered several episodes of
The Amazing World of Gumball. They tried to explain it to me, but I'd had a long day at work and it was more than I could process just then.
Flash forward and I get a review copy of that same program. The boys were ecstatic. They really loved the show. So, a couple of weeks ago while my wife was out of town on a business trip the boys and I sat down on the couch and gave
Gumball a whirl.
You know what?
They were right.
The Amazing World of Gumball is a lot of fun.
Not familiar with
Gumball? Here's the setup. The Watersons are your typical animated family. There's a mom, a dad, a mischievious son, a genius younger sister and another brother who's a fish.
Wait...what?
It gets weirder. Dad is a layabout rabbit. Sister is also a rabbit. Mom is a hard-working cat. Gumball is also a cat. Younger brother Darwin is an evolved goldfish.
Yes, you read that right.
Thrust this bunch into a family sitcom set up, add a T-Rex, a talking banana, and a peanut with a crush on Gumball...shake...and watch the laughs develop.
Once you cut through the oddity,
Gumball is a very sweet cartoon about family and friends. The kids make mistakes the way kids do and then try to cover them in the same ways. Mom deals with the fallout the way working moms do.
I very quickly found myself laughing out loud along with the boys at the absurdity of it all.
We inhaled 10 of the disc's 12 episodes before it was time for me to put the boys to bed.
Gumball is a throwback. There was no innuendo. There were very few pop culture references. In fact, it took me back to the Saturday mornings of my childhood where we had three channels and four hours of cereal-sponsored programming to get us through the week.
According to the press release I got from Cartoon Network,
Gumball was the number one show in its timeslot for Boys 6-14. Based on the reactions it got at my house, the creators clearly know their audience.
Our kids tend to pick things up from us by association (see contents of DVD mentioned above). Every once in a while they turn the tables and teach us something. Thanks to my kids I learned that I have not completely lost touch with my inner child.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of
The Amazing World of Gumball on DVD and watch it with your kids. You will all laugh, and I don't know about you, but the sound of my kids' laughter is one of my favorite sounds in the world.
The Amazing World of Gumball is out on DVD today from Cartoon Network.