Story
The Amazing World of Gumball is a series of short TV cartoons made for the big screen. Gumball Watterson (voiced by Logan Grove) is a 12-year-old cat who lives with his mum and dad, Nicole and Richard Watterson, Anais his sister (Kyla Rae Kowalewski), and his best friend Darwin (Kwesi Boakye). Darwin used to be a goldfish but grew legs and became an honorary kid. Gumball’s dad, Richard, is a pink rabbit who spends most of his time watching TV and playing video games, while his highly strung mother works long hours to feed the family.
Gumball has lots of adventures, solves mysteries and makes new friends. He also tries to help his grumpy neighbour, Mr Robinson, who doesn’t really want his help. Although Gumball tries to do the right thing, he often finds himself in trouble. His mum tries to turn Gumball into a ‘winner’ by forcing him to do extreme things.
Themes
Violence
This movie has a lot of cartoon violence and accidental harm. For example:
- Tina the dinosaur crashes through the school hallway, squashing someone on the way.
- Gumball shoves a character through a wall.
- Gumball falls off his bike, rolls down steps and into wet concrete, which sets on him.
- Gumball crashes into a house like a fireball.
- Gumball’s friends throw a brick at Gumball with a note attached. It hits his head and knocks him out. The note says that Mr Robinson will be assassinated.
- Gumball’s friends try to assassinate Mr Robinson by dropping sandbags on him while he is on a stage.
- The stage lights fall on Mr Robinson and crush him.
- Principal Brown gets pushed out a window and run over by a truck.
- Miss Simian, a teacher, also gets pushed out a window and run over by an ambulance.
- To prove he isn’t boring, Hector stomps through town crushing cars and houses and destroying everything.
- Gumball’s mum makes him fight with an old woman in a supermarket over a discounted chicken.
Content that may disturb children
Under 5
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, this movie has some scenes that could scare or disturb children under five years. For example:
- Tina the dinosaur is a scary creature who bullies other children.
- Miss Simian the teacher is a scary ape with a bad temper.
- Tina tries to eat Gumball.
- Hector is a giant monster who is large and scary.
- Hector’s mother is quite scary. She looks like a witch with odd eyes.
From 5-8
In addition to the violent scenes and scary visual images mentioned above, this movie has some scenes that could scare or disturb children in this age group. For example:
- Mr Robinson gets knocked out in a store, and a huge monster gives him CPR. Gumball squeezes Mr Robinson so hard that Mr Robinson’s heart pops out of his mouth. Mr Robinson reaches over with his tongue to get his heart back, and then swallows it.
- Gumball uses an electrocardiogram to resuscitate Mr Robinson.
- Gumball’s mum drives him into a desert in the night and makes him walk home by himself.
Over 8
Nothing of concern
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
This movie has some mild put-downs.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Amazing World of Gumball is a colourful animation with lots of quirky and unusual characters, which will appeal to children. It is full of cartoon violence, however, and several characters might scare younger children.
The messages from this movie are quite mixed and might be confusing for children. For example, one episode suggests that ‘mother knows best’. But in another, Gumball’s mother makes him do terrible things.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life questions such as:
- Should you really choose friends because they’re rich and have lots of toys to play with?
- Are there other qualities in life that are more important than being a ‘winner’?