The Amazing World of Gumball: The Mystery

This collection of award-winning episodes from Cartoon Network's hit series The Amazing World of Gumball is as hilarious as it is artistically clever and unique. Combining 2D and 3D animation with cheesy-looking, live-action settings, Gumball finds its titular hero—a schoolboy with a penchant for misadventures—getting into all kinds of scrapes. In “The Mystery,” Gumball attempts to deduce how Principal Brown ended up hairless, wrapped in toilet paper, and shoved into a locker. Exploring theories while trying to determine the identity of the perpetrator, Gumball stumbles in his logic until the unexpected truth emerges. In “The Responsible,” Gumball and his brother Darwin become babysitters for their little sister, only to make a mess of everything. “The Car” finds the siblings doing chores for their cranky neighbor, but destroying his car—or at least they assume they did. In “The Spoon,” Gumball and Darwin go to a gas station with $20 in search of a birthday present and are duped into helping a thief. If there's a masterpiece in this set, it's “The Microwave,” in which a jar full of gross stuff comes to life and rapidly grows into a hulking monster. Series creator Ben Bocquelet and director Mic Graves have invented a hybrid universe of the mundane and the freakish—including talking cacti, dinosaurs, a monkey teacher, and a doughnut cop. Featuring fast and funny dialogue, and wonderfully inspired characters, this is highly recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)