Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gender-swapped version of beloved series is more mature.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 2 parent reviews
Based on 17 kid reviews
Kids say the show is a captivating and mature continuation of the original series, blending familiar characters with deeper themes and more complexity. While many appreciate the writing and character development, opinions are divided on its suitability for younger audiences due to elements like mild swearing, violence, and themes related to mental health and relationships.
- mature themes
- character development
- divided opinions
- suitability concerns
- familiar characters
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
Set in an alternate reality city that's much more ordinary than the Land of Ooo, ADVENTURE TIME: FIONNA & CAKE is a spin-off of the popular animated show Adventure Time. This time, the action revolves around Fionna Campbell (Madeleine Martin) and her cat, Cake (Roz Ryan), who are gender-swapped versions of Adventure Time's Finn the Human and Jake the Dog. While Fionna toils away at dead-end jobs during the day, at night, she dreams of a magical world. Meanwhile, in his part of the universe, Simon Petrikov (Tom Kenny) works at a theme park playing the part of a 20th century human for tourists. When these characters meet up, circumstance launches a wild trip through the multiverse to evade a Big Bad determined to erase them from existence.
Is It Any Good?
As whimsical and surreal as the original Adventure Time, this gender-swapped reboot is also a shade more mature, as befits the now-adult age of its earliest fans. Fionna is an average young woman, adrift in a world that's entirely too average for her. Her city is small and boring, she sighs, and she can't seem to find a comfortable resting place from which to navigate ordinary day-to-day travails. She's just been fired from her ninth (or is it her 10th?) dead-end job this year, she doesn't have enough money to take her best friend/pet Cake to the vet, and she keeps having these weird dreams about an Ice King in a land where she has amazing powers. "What if I'm just bored with everything and wish the world were more magical?" she sighs.
Luckily, as Adventure Time fans could have guessed, things are about to change for Fionna. And fans of the original will be heartened to see that this series is deeply connected to the original, with recognizable (yet twisted) versions of familiar characters who suddenly appear, and with the same knack for surreal yet emotional plot twists. In Fionna & Cake's first episode, Fionna stumbles into a new area of her local park that has been planted with luxuriant weeds by a taciturn landscaper. "My beautiful misfits," the landscape exults, leading Fionna through dark brambles into a sunlit glade ringed with flowers. It's a lovely moment, and a potent visual metaphor for Fionna's search for something magical in her humdrum life. Oh yeah, and that same glade has a character who can talk to pets, and a portal to another land hidden in an ice cream cart. Don't worry about it -- all will make sense (sorta) in this worthy follow-up to an iconic animated fave.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Fionna & Cake was made with the stated purpose of pleasing adult fans of the original Adventure Time. How does Fionna & Cake up the ante in terms of mature content? Could it still be appreciated by young viewers? Should it be?
Adventure Time has released many miniseries and specials. How are these different from regular seasons of the show? Does anticipating the next spin-off make you enjoy it more when it arrives? Or is it frustrating?
Do you have to be a fan of Adventure Time to appreciate Fionna & Cake? Does experience with the original show increase or detract from your enjoyment of this spin-off?
TV Details
- Premiere date : August 31, 2023
- Cast : Madeleine Martin , Roz Ryan , Tom Kenny
- Network : Max
- Genre : Kids' Animation
- TV rating :
- Award : Common Sense Selection
- Last updated : January 9, 2026
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