Animation Monday: Gravity Falls

By Nathan Young on July 2, 2012

This new cartoon on Disney Channel is definitely a little more creepy and edgier than what you expect from a Disney cartoon. But Gravity Falls so far has told its stories very well with great humor for kids and plenty of twists and turns, puns, clever writing, visual gags, and eccentric characters for adults.

The plot of Gravity Falls is when twins Dipper Pines (voiced by Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines (voiced by Kristin Schaal) have their summer plans ruined when their parents send them to their Uncle Stan in a very weird town called Gravity Falls, Oregon. Uncle Stan (voiced by Alex Hirsch; the creator of the show) runs The Mystery Shack which is an overpriced tourist trap and museum. But Gravity Falls holds many secrets and mysteries that Dipper and Mabel are clueless about. And the twins discovers new secrets and crazy things that this town offers. Check out this video of the series preview.

I love the opening sequence to Gravity Falls. The song and the sequence really gives you the idea that Gravity Falls is a very weird town.

The three episodes shown so far have been very good. The pilot showed how the twins ended up in Gravity Falls. Dipper finds a book explaining the supernatural side of Gravity Falls. And Mabel almost gets kidnapped by forest trolls so she can become their queen. But the twins team up with the help of a leaf blower to send the trolls back to the forest. Sadly one of them did not make it and got snatched up by a goat. And I did not know when trolls have an unfortunate accident through their mouths it’s all a sparkly rainbow.

The second episode has Uncle Stan taking the twins on a fishing trip. The twins hear rumors of a sea monster called a Gobblewonker that lives at the bottom of the lake. And they enlist the help of Soos to go on a boating expedition to find this sea monster. While the twins are gone Uncle Stan goes around the lake in his boat and delivers insults and rude talk to the other people on the lake which was funny. The twins and Soos finds the sea monster but they get chased by the Gobblewonker. By the way throwing cameras at the monster will not stop it. At the end they discover the sea monster is actually a robot. And Mabel gets her dreams crushed by not being in a giant hamster ball.

The third episode had Uncle Stan reopening a wax statue museum. After Stan’s life-size statue was tampered with the twins and the police do some investigating which included walking into a bar and Mabel saying “he’s just resting” to a guy that was passed out. The fight scene involving Dipper and Mabel fighting wax statues that came to life was very good. Seeing Sherlock Homes (voiced by John Oliver), Larry King, Coolio, and others being defeated and melted by the twins with the creative gags was something I really enjoyed. In fact Larry King and Coolio provided the voices for the wax statutes of themselves before being melted. Or in the case of Larry King having his wax head bounce around and asking questions. That was also a funny moment.

I think Gravity Falls is so far living up to the hype and it’s a cartoon I really enjoy. Gravity Falls airs new episodes on Friday Nights at 9:30/8:30pm on Disney Channel with repeats airing often throughout the week. I highly recommend everyone to check out this show! I am glad that Disney is really stepping up in its animation department with creative shows such as Phineas and Ferb, Fish Hooks, and now Gravity Falls.

All images and videos copyrighted by Disney.