I'd always been curious about Peppermint Butler's backstory (especially after the series finale. I also figured he was one of the first candy people Princess Bubblegum made), and I gotta say I'm slightly disappointed with this one.
It's still good, but the ending pretty much kills him off for good and I'm kinda disappointed at that.
I guess Butler v2 (or Momo, I suppose) could be decent, but the series is over now so there's no way to know for sure.
Episode 2 remains as the best one, with 3 coming next, followed by the first then this one.
I did like the concept of this series though, and do hope they make more in the future. It's always great to get some more worldbuilding, ya know?
Anyway, this entire series is still worth a watch after you've finished the main show.
It's got some great self-contained stories that expand upon the established lore & characters, and this is no exception.
Very cute, the fact it doesn’t quite feel like an Adventure Time episode and more like a typical magic school story with an AT tint is both it’s biggest strength and weakness
[7.5/10] Lots of fun! Doing a Hogwarts-esque setup with Adventure Time flair is a recipe for entertainment. The show’s imaginative take on what a wizarding boarding school would be is right up this series’s alley. Just living in that world for forty-five minutes or so is enjoyable, coasting on the same imaginative spark that scads of other boarding school stories have.
But what drew me the most to this one is the relationship between Young Pep But and Cadebra. The message here isn’t subtle. Pep has to learn to take the long hard road to find his own destiny, rather than being trapped by his past. Taking shortcuts only leads him toward the dark and unhappy. The pressure placed on him by his past self, and his palpable displeasure with trying to get ahead, makes Young Pep sympathetic.
What pushes him past that is Cadebra. I love the concept of a young girl from a proud wizarding family (even one with Abracadaniel) who’s more interested in stage magic than real sorcery. She is a misfit, something that always plays well with Adventure Time. The budding friendship between her and Pep -- one reveling in her outsider status and the other trying to shed it -- makes them good foils for one another, and eventually good friends.
I’ll confess, the twist here totally worked on me! I fully expected that former Dark Wizard Bufo (Bill Hader, killing it as always) was the culprit. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming. The friendly teacher having more than meets the eye is an old trope for these sorts of stories as well, and “Wizard City” uses it well. The reveal that all of the Wiz Arts school potentates are trying to revive an ancient demonic wizard takes you aback with the magnitude of it. At the same tie, though, there’s enough hints along the way to make it feel earned, which is the right note for a good mystery to hit.
Presented with this plot to make him the reincarnation of the old demonic creature, Pep takes the bait, but uses the power to protect his friend rather than take over the world. And Cadebra has her moment to shine too, using her stage magic abilities to distract Young Pep in his demonic form and then sock him in the guy to get the magical “ichor” out of his system. It fits with the Potter-esque “Power of Friendship” motif the show’s aping, while also establishing a unique friendship between misfits among Cadebra and Pep.
The show cements that with pep having the chance to ascend to the venerated “Salamander” group, and instead choosing to remain a “skink” with Cadebra. (I’ll admit to being a dummy who'd never heard of a skink before this.) Their bond is a sweet one, and given both’s struggles -- with mistaking grim history for dark destiny with Pep, and trading lineage for fun with Cadebra -- the way the two stick together is warm and wholesome.
The little details here are fun too. It’s nice to see Choose Goose once more, and the designs and character traits for the various denizens of Wizard City and its school are a lot of fun. I’ll admit to tiring of Spader’s generic cool kid jerk routine pretty quickly, but that too is a trope worth parodying in the boarding school mystery genre.
Overall, “Wizard City” doesn’t quite fly as a high as the other Distant Lands installments, but it’s another fun detour through the world of Adventure Time nonetheless.
Review by JCVIP 4BlockedParent2021-09-04T00:50:35Z
To recap:
BMO: 4 stars
Obsidian: 5 stars
Together Again: 4.5
Again, gonna keep the highest rating for the overall score, but Wizard City is a 4. It would be an anticlimactic end for Adventure Time... if it was the end. As is, we know a Fiona and Cake spinoff series is coming, costarring the one character I was surprised didn't have his own special until that announcement: Simon. So freed of that weight, Wizard City is free to be just a good Adventure Time special. While BMO highlighted BMO's growth from comic relief to the heart of the show and family to Finn and Jake with a depth all BMO's own, Obsidian highlighted the groundbreaking and still applicable and relevant Bubblegum-Marceline relationship, and Together Again was a send off to the titular duo, Wizard City is the most lighthearted of the bunch.
It hearkens back to the episodes of the show where a main character was nowhere to be found- or a cameo or in the background- and the spotlight was on a recurring character and some worldbuilding instead. Wizard City is just two charming kids trying to carve their own way. In that sense, it's a good capstone to these specials. Fiona and Cake will have to do the same, walking its own path, and Wizard City's focus on the future is a good setup for that expectation. Add in some great lines that got big laughs from me - "I'm not even a good joke!"- and the charm of Cadebra, and Wizard City is Adventure Time when it isn't worried about casting off the shackles of the past, navigating a romance where you've both changed for the better, and accepting the end and at the same time accepting nothing ever ends completely, just changing. Wizard City isn't any of that; It's just fun and silly and heartfelt, and that's Adventure Time too.