The Adventures Of Huck Finn
(1993)
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Mark Twain's immortal comic tale of the fraud, hypocrisy and bigotry of adults as seen through the eyes of an innocent boy and his friend Jim, a runaway slave. As they make their way along the Mississippi, they meet a motley collection of self-important characters and try their best to understand them despite their obvious flaws. |
This Disney adventure is one of at least eight film versions of Mark Twain's celebrated novel, but it can hold its head much higher than several of its predecessors. With his wide eyes and refreshingly uncontrived manner, Elijah Wood gives a good account of himself in the title role, learning about racial tolerance thanks to his friendship with Jim, an escaped slave played with great finesse by Courtney B Vance. If writer/director Stephen Sommers occasionally soft-soaps and over-modernises in an attempt to connect with his audience, he nevertheless gets fine performances from a brutish Ron Perlman and the roguish duo of Jason Robards and Robbie Coltrane.