This show is hilarious in many ways. It's a children's show that somehow reaches older ages as well.
Characters are created in many ways, such as traditional animation, Claymation, stop-motion, CGI, pixilation, and even puppets. They're inspired from everyday thing, too. As an example, the burglar is a walking fingerprint. Then you have a variety of personalities, such as Mr. Small, the school counselor that's a hippy; Mrs. Simian, the ancient, ill-tempered monkey that is a teacher; a CGI tyrannosaurus rex named Tina; a peanut with antlers named Penny. The list is endless and new things are being discovered in every episode, whether they are costars or hidden in the background. Everything about the setting is lovable.
The family is quite cliché, however, but they manage to be cliché in a new way. Richard, the father, is a gluttonous, pink rabbit that does nothing but sleep, unless his wife Nicole says otherwise. Speaking of Nicole, the blue cat, she's a workaholic that will blow up on someone at any given moment. She's a freakishly amazing mother. Her ways of doing things for her kids is something that's not seen very often in the real world, so although she's fantastical, her views are good. Gumball, the protagonist, is always getting into trouble with his walking-fish-adopted-brother named Darwin(an ongoing mystery to the series: Where did Darwin come from?). Their troubles are usually accidental and good-natured. Think of the Apple Dumpling Gang. Darwin is the one that usually has moral views and wants to do what's right, whereas Gumball wants the same result but reaches it in a more troublesome way. He often talks Darwin into helping him achieve his goals. Finally, you have Anise, the youngest of the family and for some reason, the smartest. She has a scientific explanation for everything that her "dumb" brothers can't understand.
The show has a lot of slapstick humor. As an example, Gumball was calling someone, and the screen split into two to show the ends of the line. The camera zoomed in on the one Gumball was calling, but as it did this, his side of the screen got bigger and bigger until Gumball was crushed on his end, morphing his face into a goofy-looking thing.
But you have to listen to the dialogue, for jokes are hidden in almost every sentence, whether they be hilarious or simple tings that make you smile. Dialogue helped make this show as funny as it is.
The show ha made several references to other things as well. There was a scene where Gumball is fighting his brother, Darwin, but they've become pixelated and are jumping into the air with robotic moves. It was spoof off Mortal Kombat. Again, the dialogue related to it. One episode, called The Sweaters, brought new characters in, dressed like teenagers from the eighties. They sported big, colorful glasses, leg warmers, and sweaters. And their hair... Eighties-style music can be heard at the end.
The show is unbelievably cute at times as well as so funny that my parents have even laughed at it. One scene showed Gumball losing his clothes, and in place to cover the special spots, was that pixelated box that shifts and changes color with movement. It's not raunchy or anything. Nothing that should scar kids or offend parents. But sometimes scenes are cute wonderful and heart-touching.
It's rare that an awful moment has appeared in the show, but they have happened. However, any show can have those. This show easily outweighs the bad with all it's humor and goodness.
I think the shows Uncle Grandpa and Steven Universe have tried to embrace the hilarity that Gumball wields, but those shows are too weird to understand and the humor is minimal or uncreative. Gumball also doesn't feature creepiness like Adventure Time and Regular Show, although those are popular, for what I don't know. But I understand that some parents don't allow their young kids to watch those. Gumball is much milder and nicer, more pleasant, even in its ridiculousness.
