Adventure Time with Finn and Jake

image for Adventure Time with Finn and Jake

Short takes

Not recommended under 8, PG to 12 due to violence and disturbing scenes

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Adventure Time with Finn and Jake
  • a review of Adventure Time with Finn and Jake completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 25 October 2012.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes
Children 8-11 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and disturbing scenes
Children 12 and over OK for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Adventure Time with Finn and Jake
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild animated violence and gore, crude humour and coarse language
Length: 70 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake centres on the surreal adventures of a 14-year-old human boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and his wisecracking dog Jake (John Di Maggio). The film is comprised of five episodes of the hit animated television series, following the two best friends as they explore the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo. Whether it’s surviving the hellish dimension of the Nightosphere, or gathering friends to try and conquer an Ice King, the Finn and Jake try their best to have fun and ultimately save the day.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Friendship, forgiveness, independence, determination, freedom, the importance of truth.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • In the hellish dimension of the Nightosphere, a large red cloud floats over the inhabitants trapped there and begins killing everyone standing in the line by lasering them. It tries to laser Jake and Finn, but they manage to escape.
  • Abadeer, King of the Nightosphere, tries to physically suck the soul from Jake by holding him down and extracting the lifeforce from within him.
  • Finn defeats Abadeer by “slicing open his soul sack” and graphically imploding him from the inside.
  • The demons in the Nightosphere band together and manage to save their friend Marceline from an evil amulet by exploding the large, vicious-looking body in which she is trapped.
  • Jake stabs Abadeer by transforming his hands into large sticks, and poking him in both eyes.
  • Jake tells Finn that he will break every bone in his body, then heal him later after the two get into a fight. They then begin repeatedly kicking each other, punching one another in the face and giving each other Chinese burns.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • During the opening montage, the post-apocalyptic world of Oos appears to be filled with monsters and demonic beings (e.g. a female vampire is seen snarling at the camera and baring her teeth aggressively).
  • When Finn determines that his friend Marceline lied to him and calls her on it, she grows angry and transforms into a giant red-eyed monster that growls at Finn.
  • In a dream sequence, a seemingly nice woman tells Finn to eat the bowl of soup sitting in front of him. When he questions this, her head transforms into a collection of flames and she begins yelling at Finn and frightening him.
  • In another dream sequence, Finn tells Jake that he usually “dreams of messed up stuff, like a shark trying to eat off my face”. Immediately, a shark appears, looking enraged and baring its teeth, and tries to eat Jake.
  • To establish whether he is dreaming, Finn pinches Jake – still in the dream, Jake’s flesh begins to melt away until only his skeleton is left behind.
  • In an attempt to woo the Princess Bubblegum, Ricardo breaks and reassembles the bones of the Ice King’s old body as merely an oversized heart. He creates his own appendages and forms a Frankenstein-esque body.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There are some scenes in this movie that could disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Marceline is treated poorly by her father, who wants her to rule the Nightosphere after he retires despite her reluctance. She tells him “I want your respect, but I’ve got my own plans.” He then tricks her into wearing an amulet that will immediately transform her into a large creature that automatically rules the Nightosphere. Marceline feels betrayed when she is rescued by Finn and Jake and eventually finds out what her father did.
  • Having been forced in the Nightosphere for unknown reasons, Finn and Jake are made to wait thirteen days standing in a line in order to talk to the King of the dimension in order to get out. They are shown distraught, crying and looking helpless.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • In the Nightosphere, the entire landscape is scattered with flames and demonic creatures. As the camera pans across the area, the creatures are behaving violently towards one another, and there are piercing shrieks that can be heard in the background.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are a few sexual references in this movie, including:

  • When Jake and Finn are discussing their dreams, Jake asks Finn whether his dreams were “make-out dreams”.
  • In order to beat the ‘Farm’ (a larger creature) in a fight of pride, Finn and Jake go to the Dream Warrior, who symbolically tells them to be aware of the “two golden apples”. Jake later says suggestively “I can make a guess” as to what they represent, implying that they symbolise the testicles of the Farm.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

None of concern

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • “jerk”, “ hacks”,  “Oh butt-traps”, “Cheap move, you butt-rag”

In a nutshell

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake is a fun, action-packed story about friendship, having fun and doing the right thing. Although Finn and Jake often take the wrong path in their quests to investigate new places and help the people they care about, they ultimately have honourable intentions. As a result, it provides audiences with an escapist avenue for exploring new, dystopic worlds through the eyes of a young boy and his pet dog. Parents of younger viewers should note that the film contains animated violence and gore. It is therefore not recommended for under 8s and some older children may need help with some scenes.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • The importance of friendship, and always being there to help the people you care about.
  • Not needing to be perfect, but needing to be truthful about who you are as a person.
  • Resilience and determination in the face of obstacles.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The value of rising up against corrupt leaders and fighting for your own freedom and independence.
  • The danger of allowing arguments to cause rifts between friends.