Adventure Time delves into different animation styles and darker tones this week.
Finn and Jake’s testosterone-driven desires compel them to go to a stadium run by the Fight King. They soon find themselves trapped, and their only way of escape is to fight the king’s menagerie of melodramatic ghost warriors. This episode’s odd animation and minimalist character designs helped progress this darker-than-average episode to its surprisingly morbid twist.
“Morituri te Salutamus” is an episode that tells us a dark story from the world of Oo and accomplishes this by exercising a new animation style. Fans of the series might find the more noodle-like movements of the duo, and a suspiciously phallic-looking Jake, to be unsettling. Some fans might even think it looks “cheap” in to other episodes such as “Mortal Folly.”
However, the loose animation adds to the darker tone of the episode and the contrast of Jake’s yellow body against the tones of brown in the background deliver a sense of dreariness akin to Don Bluth’s “The Land Before Time.” In fact, an animation fan could argue that the entire episode feels like an aesthetic homage to Bluth’s early work. Everything from the gladiator grave yard to Fight King’s glow-in-the-dark-Playtel sword evokes the same dark mysticism Bluth used in his film “The Legend of NIMH.” The only elements that confine the episode to a comedy are Adventure Time’s unique sense of humor and its nonsensical songs.”
The use of music anchors the story to its child friendly roots, though it comes off as unnecessary. Adventure Time is known for surprising its multiple demographics with dark twists, so why did it need Jake’s song to elevate the emotional tone? If anything, the song imbalanced the pace of Finn’s inevitable turn to blood lust. Given the series’ penchant for music, however, it is forgivable. What also makes the song worthwhile is the animation techniques used to make Jake mobile during his time separated from Finn.
What also bedazzles viewers is Jake himself. John DiMaggio’svocal chords will entice a giggle, but its Jake’s Gumby-like body that will reel the audience into a series of visual gags. Jake’s shape shifting is perfect for innuendo and a good example occurs when Jake turns his hands into tiny and well -endowed Mrs. Butterworths for hula dancing. Though Jake looks like an odd oval in some scenes, his shape shifting adds a comedic edge to an otherwise darkly toned episode.
Adventure Time continues to channel its juvenile sense of humor despite all the bloodlust. We open with the duo saving a bag of “cuties” from a giant hamburger monster. How do you hide a bunch of furry creatures from Ronald McDonald’s bastardized creation? By putting them in your shirt of course. This situation makes the world of Oo feel like the ADHD sister of Mario world and it makes the viewer want to be a naive 10-year-old again.
Overall, the episode retains its childlike whimsy and should entertain its multiple demographics. The shift to a more minimalist style helped to differentiate the episode and kept the narrative fresh.
Some stats and info about Adventure Time, “Morituri te Salutamus”
TV SHOW – Adventure Time
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3 Episode 2
AIRED ON – July 18th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Cartoon Network
GENRE – Animated Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Pendleton Ward
CAST – John DiMaggio, Jeremy Shada, Tom Kenny, Hynden Walch, Niki Yang, Pendleton Ward, Dee Bradley Baker, Maria Bamford Lumpy Space Princess seduces Finn with her lumps.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.