Reviews WesternAnimation / Adventure Time

Good, but Weird.

Adventure Time is a happy Cartoon Network cartoon that, for the most part, relies on a lot of randomness. The hero, Finn, starts off as a 'keep it pure' type guy who fights all the evil in the world. Jake, his best friend and talking dog, is a bit more questionable in his morals from the start but helps Finn defeat evil anyway. (Jake is more selfish than anything else, really.) Recently, however, the hero is no longer such a hero - more mature subjects come up and he constantly feels the need to be in a relationship. One of his earlier crushes being someone older than him (enough so to be weird). The main villain seems to have an obsession with wanting to marry princesses clearly a lot younger than him (however he shows to have standards when one princess de-ages to 13 and simply walks out). The show isn't always 'family-friendly' as the episodes may be a little too dark or with too many hidden adult references. Nevertheless, young children can still sit through it without parents needing to worry.

The show has some dark elements to some of the episodes (The Lich arc as well as the latest Lemongrab stories [which are not only weird but disturbing], not to mention some of the other ones), and some episodes often gives you a strange feeling of "What just happened? That was...trippy," to say the least. From the time I first watched the show I felt embarrassed to try and watch it. It seemed like a mindless male action story with weird cartoon drawings and annoying jokes. It was intriguing and I tried it a few more times, but I couldn't bear the stupidity. I didn't even try it again until the "Simon and Marcy" episodes were on, and suddenly, I cared about the show and the characters. Whether the first season just really annoyed me or if the show just needed to grow on me, I now have seen every episode and love the show.

The characters seem flat to me, and I rarely care for them. I do care a lot for the Ice King thanks to the "Simon and Marcy" episodes, and I did (past tense) like the Lemongrabs until the recent episode, but other than that I just don't care for them.

There are a lot of good elements to the show - something about it makes you happy, really. It also has an interesting "beneath the story" story. Even if there are a lot of things to dislike, the show is strangely appealing. It's worth the try.