Gravity Falls On Hulu Delivers Chills And Thrills As Must-See Series At Any Age

My daughters, 12 and 7, were arguing over what to watch a few weeks back, and my oldest said, “I want to check out Gravity Falls on Hulu because my friends said it was good but she won’t watch it with me.” I had some recollection of this show having been a big deal in the past, so I sat down with my youngest on my lap and said, “Let’s check it out.” We’re all so glad we did.

Gravity Falls, originally a series on the Disney Channel, is now available in its entirety on Hulu, and it’s more than worth watching and, as my children have done, re-watching. You’ll catch comments, Easter eggs, nods, and references the second or third time around that you may have missed the first time. There’s so much going on in this animated series about twin siblings, Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal) who are dropped off in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon with their Great Uncle Stan for the summer. 

The kids, who live in Piedmont, California, are completely out of sorts at first in the tourist trap their uncle, renamed “Grunkle” Stan by Mabel, has created. But, with their quick wits and their perfectly timed senses of humor, they quickly adjust to the weirdness of it all. Each episode finds the kids on some kind of mystery hunt, trying to solve some inexplicable situation.

Dipper is the brains of the operation, without being typecast as “brainy,” Mabel is the socially adept one, and the kids are secretly jealous of each other’s talents. 

In watching Gravity Falls on Hulu, you have the joy of getting to stream all 40 episodes, rather than having to wait for the slow release of each episode over several months. Creator Alex Hirsch (who also voices Grunkle Stan) has said that he poured his heart and soul into this series, which he based loosely on his own childhood experiences with his twin sister growing up in Piedmont.

It took months to create each episode, with first drafts, rewrites, animation, and edits upon edits. You often wonder what it takes to make a show that resonates with so many people of so many different backgrounds and ages, and it’s this very process.

The dialogue is pure magic, never talking down to the kids watching while also managing to speak over their heads to the adults in the room, which makes Gravity Falls a perfect family show on Hulu.

In one scene, Grunkle Stan recalls his early education on how relationships work, saying, “I remember learning that you meet a nice girl, you take her on a date, you lay down in bed, and the next thing you know you have a kid and your life falls apart… Forget that last part.”

The relationship between Grunkle Stan and Dipper and Mabel is wacky and loving, and you can’t help but wish you had an eccentric great uncle running a Mystery Shack in the Pacific Northwest you could visit. 

When J.K. Simmons comes on board in season 2 as Grunkle Stan’s brilliant twin brother, Ford, things go even more off the rails. Ford’s job as a paranormal investigator causes tensions to run high between the brothers, as well as their evil antagonist, Bill Cipher, and interdimensional demon.

For the more sensitive, younger kids, Gravity Falls on Hulu might not be a safe bet. There are literally rivers of blood (albeit animated blood) in one scene with Bill working to take over the world. My kids, the little ghouls that they are, of course, loved it. 

GFR SCORE

For a perfect creep-fest leading up to Halloween, catch Gravity Falls on Hulu with your friends, with your kids, and with anyone else who loves a good laugh and a good fright. Gravity Falls is animation done right.