Gumby: The Movie (1995) User Reviews

The Vidiot Reviews....

[capone666 · 6/10 · 18 May 2018]

Gumby: The Movie

Claymation is typically a family run business on account it takes generations to film 8 minutes.

In fact, it took animators 36 years to make this 90-minute stop-motion feature film.

Lead singer and guitarist Gumby, his equine friend Pokey, and they rest of their rock band The Clayboys hold a benefit concert for their farmer friends who are being evicted by Blockhead E-Z Loan for missed mortgage payments.

During the showcase, the Blockheads kidnap Gumby's dog and then replace Gumby and his band mates with robotic replicas that wreck havoc around town.

Released in 1995, forty-years after the clay character debuted on Howdy Doody, this anniversary feature film has the low budget, retro feel of the original shorts. While the mortgage crisis plotline is advanced for younger viewers, the madcap supporting cast keeps everything loosey goosey.

And remember: always put Gumby back in his container or he'll harden and fragment. Yellow Light

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Gumby in a rock band

[Beta_Gallinger · 6/10 · 9 October 2007]

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.

Gumby rules!

[La Gremlin · 7/10 · 23 June 2001]

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.

My Complains / Comments

[CaptinCanuck · 4 November 2002]

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

Not bad, when taken for what it is.

[mjj237 · 7/10 · 9 June 2005]

Folks, I'll be straight with you. This is not the greatest film ever made. In fact, it's not the best Gumby film ever made (although it's the best--read: only--full-length Gumby film ever made). I attribute this largely to the fact that Gumby and his secondary characters are intended to be digested in five-minute doses. An hour and a half with them is a little bit like a phone call from an old friend you haven't talked to in years, who stays on the phone long after you remember how much better you liked them when they hadn't been chewing your ear off for hours. In other words, as you watch the movie (if you're over the age of 8 at least), you're glad to see Gumby is doing well--he's got a new band, some new friends, even some groupies. And in fact, if you liked Gumby in normal-size episodes as a kid, you almost feel validated somehow because the slightly weird character you liked finally got his own movie. But as the clock ticks forward, you begin to wonder why there needed to be a Gumby cartoon of this length. In fact, you realize, even if you'd really wanted an hour-and-a-half-long Gumby fix, you'd rather have watched 15 or so regular Gumby shorts.

But I must admit, once a Gumby fan, always a shameless Gumby fan. It has its moments, and if you like the little green guy with the pointy head, you'll get a kick out of it. But let me put it this way: I've owned the VHS of it since about 1997 and have watched it twice in the past eight years. It's not a movie you'll be watching again and again if you buy it, no matter how much you like Gumby.

That said, a word about the two new characters: I can accept a guy named Gumby. I can accept, even, that his dad's name is Gumbo. I can accept a horse named Pokey, a girl named Goo, a kid sister named Minga, and even a dinosaur named Prickle. Not to mention a red teardrop with a face that has limbs coming directly out of said face, and the fact that said teardrop is a professor of some kind. I can even accept the fact that everyone in the world looks normal, except for Gumby and his pals, who are highly stylized blocks of primary colors. But I draw the line at two guys named Claybert and Fatbuckle. What kind of names are those?

Cute characters, but too long of a movie

[javivmartiarena · 5/10 · 3 December 2019]

The characters are timeless, But this movie is way too long. It should be more executed and simple to for kids. The acting needs work.

Hey, kids! Let's scream along with Gumby!

[Pando · 1/10 · 16 November 1998]

This movie... never ends. Every time you think "Oh, good, it's ending," it turns out that NO, THAT was just an INCREDIBLY cruel trick! There's MUCH more "Gumby fun" to experience! HAHAHAHAHA! Even... even after the actual ending... there's a MUSIC VIDEO! Eheh... Oh, God, this movie felt like it was five hours, at least. Not recommended to anyone who doesn't enjoy Chinese water torture.

The Ultimate Gumby Experience

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 10/10 · 30 December 2011]

As a kid, I always enjoyed how creative Gumby had his adventures on the TV show. So much of it was just for pure fun. When I finally heard that there had been a movie released, I was super excited. And none to my surprise, Gumby: The Movie rocked my world. For any Gumby fan, this movie will be a great hit. Everything in this movie is kept the same and even includes some cultural references.

Director Art Clokey, who directs his final Gumby film, has done a magnificent job. Dal McKennon is back as good old Gumby and several other characters. Even Art Clokey is Prickle and some other roles. All the animation is done by clay; how else would a Gumby film be done?! Most of the comedic parts are watching the silent Blockheads fight with each other. They're always doing something foolish.

The effects are great in this movie. Since stop motion cinematography allows you to make a special effect over time, much of the creations that are made are really quite stunning. This movie BARELY uses CGI for any part of the film. It's things like these that bring the viewer back to the time where CGI wasn't used very often and was only used if it was available. Now almost if not every movie studio uses CGI for anything they want and its gets tiresome to see the same effects used over and over again. Claymation is a sorely missed special effect that is now extinct in the movie making business at least from what I see now.

The music, which was composed by Jerry Gerber, is great listening to. Because this movie uses dated effects, it's great to hear music that belongs from the same era. Unfortunately, the soundtrack to this film is inaccessible. I get flustered over that but it's still good that it used in the movie thank heaven. What's also great to see are the cultural references in this film. The Blockheads make robot duplicates of the main characters; sounds a little like The Terminator (1984). Another scene where Gumby fights his robotic clone with a light saber. Need to say more?

As the last film made by Art Clokey, Gumby: The Movie will please its fans and may gain interest in others who are not familiar with Gumby. For anyone who has never seen claymation at its best, this is it.

So random, yet at the same time so mundane...

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 2 June 2021]

I was never a huge fan of Gumby, thought the cartoon was relatively week even for its time compared to such things as Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and other better made animations. Still, the show was nothing like this as this thing is so out there and all over the place. Then, at the same time it is also so boring making me wonder what exactly they did with the budget of 2.8 million dollars as it was not spent on this! Seriously, no voice actors of note and it was not exactly brimming with special effects! Also, in the show, did Gumby generally go in and out of books? Why was this even featured, he has a city that he lives in, but he and his band play within a book. What is the deal with this thing!?!

The story, well, the story is crazy as Gumby and Pokey descend from the heavens and Pokey goes into a toy shop where he gets caught with other clay figures a dinosaur and a girl named Goo. We watch as doctors perform surgery to separate them and then Gumby is in a band and his father and mother from the shorts are present, so why show them coming from space? I don't know, but what it boils down to is Gumby and his friends wanna to throw a concert to help farmers in a book whose farms are about to be foreclosed on and a dog cries pearls prompting blockheads to go through a whole lot of trouble to try and make the dog cry and none of it makes any sense!

The film would be perfect for today's generation as so many kid's shows seem geared to kids with add, yet at the same time why are there plot points about loans and stuff? Seriously, Gumby wants to help them and has scads of money at the end to do so because the dog has cried lots of pears (never explained why, but best not to dwell on anything) but instead of just paying off their debts, Gumby offers them loans with lower interest rates before ascending back to the moon...what a hero?

The film is a crazy mess with a love thing shoe horned in at the end and references to Star Wars without actually using the Star Wars name. I've seen a couple of shorts and they are not quite this random with the plot, kind of surprised this is what they came up with. I almost believe they let a kid of three or four write the screenplay to it.

This is one of my daughter's favorite movies

[ragweedfarmer · 10/10 · 23 August 2003]

The movie has numerous detailed, but unsophisticated sets that Gumby and his friends enter by going into books. My daughter has loved this movie since she was two, and still watches it now even at seven. I would highly recommend it to anyone with small children.

Nostalgia at its finest!

[blakebaugher · 10/10 · 27 May 2020]

I watched this movie when I was a child, and I loved it! Forgot about it over time until I'm just flipping through free movies on Vudu turned it on immediately and my kids love it just like I did. 100 percent pure nostalgia for me!! And very surreal watching my children enjoy it just the way I did

For Gumby Fans

[R Becker · 8/10 · 6 February 2006]

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.

While Gumby might have been a pioneer for stop-motion animation, Gumby the movie seems unphased by the advancements the medium has undergone.

[IonicBreezeMachine · 1 July 2022]

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.

I watched this a long time ago.

[Dandamanya · 10/10 · 14 December 2003]

I watched this movie a long time ago, and have to say it was pretty good. I remembered a lot of the characters dying. I can barely remember the film. I couldn't even remember the name for awhile. Most of what I remember was a yellow guy, a dinosaur, a sword fight, the dog that cried pearls, the blockheads, gumby, the clones, and the part where they get stuck together. I would have thought more people would vote for this movie than around 50. 9/10.

I enjoyed it!

[yoshigallagher · 10/10 · 27 September 2018]

It was a nice film! It is Great for all kids. It can also get your Kids into books because he moves in and out of them.

Gumby's all about reading into things

[ReadGrotesque · 27 July 2000]

First let me say that my recollections of Gumby from childhood are very hazy. It's much easier to recall those skits of Eddie Murphy playing Gumby on Saturday Night Live, but that's because I see those re-runs on Comedy Central all the time. So as I saw Gumby: The Movie on the shelf at the video store, I wasn't interested in reminiscing my own early years, but more an idea of what that's supposed to be like.

When the tape went in and the movie came on, it was sheer joy from beginning to end. I watched this with several other people also, and made this observation: People who enjoyed Eyes Wide Shut (such as myself) also enjoyed Gumby: The Movie. People who did not enjoy Eyes Wide Shut... well you can guess. I am convinced that much of Kubrick's inspiration for his last work of art, came from Gumby: The Movie. You may think I am joking, but I am as serious as brain surgery.

The entire tone set in the beginning of the FILM, is dark and oooh oooh oooh mysterious. There's a darn drive-in theater on the moon. What does that say to you? Come on now. Gumby is nowhere to be found and Pokey is naturally upset. (Though not as upset as he will be when he melds with two other characters as a result of a tube slide accident.) Yet, even as he is upset, he delivers his lines with the same lack of panache as any other line in the screenplay.

Look at him! Pokey knows that Gumby will turn up somewhere, and they've been in a relationship for so long that you must appreciate the knowledge on their part of the routine. Pokey's been worried before and he recognizes that. Gumby and Pokey have done everything together, yet they somehow manage to honorably "sell-themselves" out one last time here. Old buddies out to make the world honest and pure.

It is entirely too complicated to go into the depth of what every single word from their clay mouths' implies, but it offers the questions and the answers are for you to figure out. Let me ask you this, Why is it that Gumby's dad is red? Shouldn't his parents be yellow and blue? What does this tell you? Gumby's dad is not actually Gumby's dad! But then who is he huh? And NO I was not intoxicated in any way while watching this film, I'm straight edge!

I'm positive that if you are interested in delving into the inner workings of films and not interested in taking things at face value, you will thoroughly enjoy Gumby: The Movie. So watch it again and again. By the way, Would you know you were human if nobody told you? And what kind of shock would it be if you happened to come across the word human in the dictionary?

Hot 90's Rock Soundtrack??!!!

[hootadbinky · 10/10 · 23 February 2007]

The music.

Did anyone notice the music? Like ZZTop amped-up with Eddie Van Halen and a little Randy Rhodes thrown in for good measure? The song when Gumby's band is playing al fresco has absolutely killer guitar, and I'm trying to track down the guitarist now. Would anyone have or info. or help me in my quest? I'm a guitarist myself and I'll be transcribing all the electric guitar from this movie.

Haven't the faintest what the plot is about, but my 3-year old son enjoyed it, and we love G+P anyway. I have ancient memories of it so I bought a couple DVDs for me and my son; we enjoy it.

But by God who is playing guitar? Also the song "Take Me Away" is in a classic power-rock romantic-anthem mode, and sung by the perfect female voice. The bridge is boring but everything else in the song is top-notch.

I found the producer's name, David Ozzie Ahlers, and he's associated with Jerry Garcia, but that's as far as I could get. I'm lousy at this kind of research. Could anyone help? And yes, I'm going to buy the DVD!

Love it!

[cara-gayle · 8/10 · 28 May 2011]

Gumby in a movie.

I have loved this movie since I was a kid. If you like Gumby, you will surely appreciate this. All the gang is there, and they have their real voices. They live on the farm, and have a band with Gumby and his (new) friends ??buckle, Thin-buckle, and No-buckle. Gumby spends all his time rehearsing and it makes Pokey feel left out. :( Nobody messes with my favorite character!!! Then Low-belly, the favored pet dachshund, cries something strange that Goo notices. Professor Caph does a test on the Low-belly tear, and it turns out to be a pearl! (I know it sounds silly but the movie is really cute and I mean, come on, this is talking clay, we already have some sense of suspension of disbelief!) Anyway, there's also some hint of love interest, as we meet Tara and her friend. (kind of like groupies) Then there's the sinister Blockheads who always have to cause trouble. They are a part of the antagonist, and there are other issues the group has to get through which are quite entertaining, like Gumby robots!

I will say the BEST part about this movie is the awesome 90's music, (one song is Still in my head and I love it!) "Oh, Gumby oh, you do something to my chemistry! You're Green, you're clay, you're a cosmic display!" It is a great song!

AND my favorite part is when they spoof movies like Star Wars, King Arthur, and even some of the previous Gumby episodes! It is a must-see for Stop-motion fans!

Wacky and Wild

[jjapple-89722 · 8/10 · 12 August 2021]

What an insane and weirdly dark movie. I still remember the star wars parody segment where gumby gets his hand cut off.