Courtesy Disney/ABC Television Group
GRAVITY FALLS
Friendly Rating: All ages
Safety Rating: Gender stereotyping and some borderline abusive behavior and slapstick humor
Quality Rating: Ya-a-a-awner
New series premieres tonight at 9 p.m.
You get the feeling that Gravity Falls is trying to be edgy and mildly subversive. Unfortunately, it is so lacking in charm that it just comes off as stupid and icky.
The premise is that twins Dipper (Jason Morgan Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) Pines are shipped off to spend the summer with their great-uncle Grunkle Stan (Alex Hirsch) at his tourist trap souvenir store The Mystery Shack in Gravity Fall, Oregon. Except there’s some mighty weird stuff going on in those woods, and it’s up to Dipper and Mabel to figure it out.
Safety-wise, Grunkle Stan is prone to some pretty iffy behavior, including whacking Dipper upside the head with some rolled-up paper. He’s also something of a con-man, but that’s less of an issue. There’s also some gender stereotyping – Mabel is boy-crazy and flirts shamelessly with anything male within reach. This from a presumed pre-teen? Isn’t that the kind of sexualized behavior we’re trying to get these kids away from? There are a lot of better ways to address the reality of that behavior without encouraging it.
The show might have worked except that it’s annoying and just off enough that it feels creepy in that “I need a shower way.” In the first episode a forest full of gnomes want to marry Mabel and kidnap her in the process, which is a little too icky to be really funny.
In short, it’s not that good.
i like the show who ever wrote this dosent know what there saying
I am in complete agreement with this review…not only is it “mildly” abusive (to say the least) it’s distasteful, violent and half of the comedy is over any persons’ head that is younger than 14! This show should NOT be labeled as appropriate for all ages! In my opinion cartoons such as Gravity Falls are one of the bigger problems with childrens’ behavior and what they grow up to assume is the proper way of interacting with each other and their adults…with no respect for either their peers or their parents, teachers, etc. One more thing..I am shocked that the Disney Channel devolved from movies like the Apple Dumpling Gang to shows as trashy as this.
I half agree with this.
I was watching this with my nephew, who is 2 and a half, since I really liked the style of animation. Some parts were cute, but a lot of parts are too violent (which I skipped cause he was watching).
I did LOL when the gnome puked rainbows *spoiler* and he was hypnotized in everything that happened. He repeated me saying “he’s puking rainbows” 10 minutes later. So yes, not appropriate for kids under 10 years old. Older kids can get the humour and realize it’s not acceptable real life behaviour. Should at least have a PG warning.
This is another reason why parents should monitor what their kids watch. Don’t complain or blame your kids annoying behaviour on TV, get involved and block out the bad shows. OR get them outside.
Peace out.