Gumby: The Movie

Green humanoid clay boy Gumby (Dallas McKennon) and his red talking horse friend Pokey (Art Clokey) are part of a band called Gumby and the Clayboys. When Gumby's nemeses, The Blockheads, use their loan company to scam a bunch of farmers out of their homes, Gumby decides to put on a benefit concert with his band unaware his music causes Lowbelly the dog to cry pearls which the Blockheads discover and enact a plan to enrich themselves.

Odds are if you were in the right place and right time be it the Howdy Doody Show, the TV series, or Eddie Murphy's SNL parody, you're probably familiar with Claymation figure Gumby created by Art Clokey. While Clokey may not be a household name, he's considered a pioneer in Claymation with his works such as Gumby and the Lutheran children's show Davey and Goliath etching their way into our cultural milieu through homage or (more likely) parody. During the 80s Gumby had experienced a revival of popularity and cultural relevance with Clokey producing new episodes of the series for syndication and also found a new audience following Eddie Murphy's SNL sketch leading to a college aged fanbase who appreciated the surrealism. Production on the film began in 1988 before being completed in 1992 and the film sat on a shelf due to lack of distributor interest. The film was given a very limited run at about 21 theaters by Arrow Releasing in 1995 where it only made $57,000 against an estimated $2.8 million budget, but did much better on home video selling one million VHS units on its run. Critical reception wasn't particularly kind from whatever critics actually bothered to watch the movie with the film deemed by critics as outdated in comparison to the year's other releases like Toy Story or Pocahontas or even recent stop-motion films like The Nightmare Before Christmas. Gumby may have been a first mover with Claymation, but when you step back from whatever nostalgic attachment you have from this film it's hard not to argue Gumby's been left behind by successive talents in the field.

Watching Gumby the Movie (or Gumby 1 as the screen title shows) there's a large variety of sets and elements on display so it's much grander and ambitious than the TV series was. But despite the large size, there's something about the movie that feels like it belongs to the same era of Stop-Motion animation as various Rankin-Bass projects. For comparison, Nick Park released his first Wallace & Gromit short A Grand Day Out in 1989 with production costing roughly $22,000 dollars. Despite some rough spots in the animation or filmmaking elements A Grand Day Out felt large in scope and had a cohesive if weird story (going to the moon because you're out of cheese, it does what it should for 20 something minutes). Looking at Gumby the Movie, its plot doesn't really feel all that grand and it's just a bunch of mini conflicts loosely stapled together that might've worked as 10-20 minute segments on television, but when put into feature film format the stiffness and awkwardness of the story that might've added a certain level of appeal on TV feels drawn out. I will say there's a certain novelty to watching some of the morphing and deformation of the clay models in how the move and interact with each other, but this also leads to problems in establishing any kind of stakes because there's no real way for Gumby to be hurt by the Blockheads and in a movie where anything and everything can happen it kind of makes it hard to keep audience investment up for 90 minutes.

Gumby the Movie is the kind of film that defies review because it's divorced from logic and rests itself primarily on the surrealness of its animation and world. The movie tries to anchor itself to some kind of narrative (even if it's paper thin) for the purposes of giving some kind of engine to keep the audience invested, but it's basically window dressing as Gumby's capable of doing anything and everything the animators will allow him to do. There's a certain level of charm to Gumby and his movie, but it also feels like while stop-motion has moved forward with the likes of Phil Tippett, Nick Park, and Henry Selick, Gumby has stayed exactly where he is.

This movie is the most genious thing I've ever seen. My majors are philiosphy and english, and this is the most intelligent piece of film I've ever had the pleasure of watching. First, it has many layers. Layers upon layer upon layer. It starts as a comment on the American Dream, and slowly creeps into the downfall of Western Civilization as we know it. I was glued to my 52" Plasma tv, I wanted to see up a contraption like in "A Clockwork Orange" so I wouldn't have to blink, in fear of I'd miss a second. When this movie was over, I watched it again the next afternoon. This took the next 3 days of classes off just to let it sink in. I was truly amazed. It made me question the Government, my life, my family, my religion, and everything I held dear and belived it. It was a life changing experience.

If you don't watch "Gumby : The Movie" you'll be chating yourself. See it ... see it now

When I was around ten years old, I watched some episodes of "The Gumby Show" on video. Since I liked what I saw, I then watched this full-length feature, which came nearly four decades after the birth of the stop-motion character's original TV show. "Gumby: The Movie" was not a disappointment for me, and the first time I watched it during my childhood wasn't my last. I have watched it again three times, I think all within the past year, and thought it was pretty good the first couple times, but it went slightly downhill for me with my latest viewing. While I watched "Gumby: The Movie" last night, I wasn't quite as impressed.

In this movie, Gumby is a member of a rock band called the Clayboys. The band has a studio on a farm, where they rehearse. As the band are on their way to their studio, along with Gumby's friends (Pokey, Goo, and Prickle), they learn that farmers are about to lose their homes, due to the fact that they cannot pay their debts. The Clayboys decide to hold a benefit concert for these troubled farmers. Unfortunately, the evil Blockheads, the ones who delivered the letters to the farmers, informing them of the bad news, are at the concert. When these two notice Gumby's dog, Lowbelly, crying pearls, they begin to record the music. After the show, the Blockheads kidnap Lowbelly, so they can play the recording they have of the Clayboys' music, and have him cry more pearls so they can get rich! However, they discover that Lowbelly will only cry pearls when he hears the music live, so the two villains now intend to kidnap the band members as well!

"Gumby: The Movie" may have more for kids than for adults, but it's not strictly for kids. During previous recent viewings, I certainly wasn't blown away, but thought it reasonably entertaining, with some mild excitement, an occasional funny scene (such as the clumsy robot waiter in the café), and some interesting places the characters find themselves in when they enter books. When I last watched the film, I was entertained by these things for a while, but eventually, I found that it got tiring. I also found that some of the voice-overs are poor, although most of them are alright. I don't know, maybe I have now seen it too many times. However, since I liked the film more during previous viewings, and enjoyed a bit of it this time, I have to give it credit, and do recommend it for stop-motion fans of all ages. You just might not want to expect a masterpiece.

I had an interesting triple feature today. The first three quarters of the "Gumby" movie, then "Fight Club", then the rest of "Gumby". I don't know why I mentioned this but I guess it explains the mind set this review is getting written from.

All I really have to say about this movie is these three words. These three little magic words:

EVIL ROBOT GUMBY!

When I was a teen, I came up with what I thought could only be the best idea in the world. A "Terminator II" parody with the cast of "Gumby" gone bad. Art Clokey and I must be psychic friends or something because here we are with the Gumby movie, and it's Evil Robot Gumby.

Yes. Oh yes.

This movie rules.

Those who grew up with Gumby, like me, will find this a welcome step back into the boundless imagination of Art Clokey and his crew. Anybody else may find their mileage varies, unfortunately, because there really *isn't* anybody quite like Art Clokey. It's not mile-a-minute in its pacing, it's not laugh-a-minute in its comedy, it's not trying to be anything but More Gumby. So if you want more Gumby, this is it! Clokey brings back all your favorites -- Gumby, Pokey, Prickle, Goo, the Blockheads, and even some surprises -- and adds a few new characters on top of that. Nobody should miss the utterly psychedelic claymation of the last few minutes of the film, because it really is beautifully done. If you expect Aardman Animation or something modern, you should adjust my rating down a few points -- this probably isn't for you. But if you remember Gumby and would like just another short while with him and his friends, here's your chance.