The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)

Director:

Stephen Sommers

Writers (WGA):

Mark Twain (novel)
Stephen Sommers (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 April 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

They set off in search for freedom and discovered the adventure of a lifetime!

Plot:

Huckleberry Finn, the half-literate son of a drunk, runs away from home and follows the Mississippi River with an escaped slave named Jim...

Plot Keywords:

Con | River | Mississippi River | Slave | Reward

Cast

Elijah Wood	...	Huck Finn
Courtney B. Vance	...	Jim
Robbie Coltrane	...	The Duke
Jason Robards	...	The King
Ron Perlman	...	Pap Finn
Dana Ivey	...	Widow Douglas
Anne Heche	...	Mary Jane Wilks
James Gammon	...	Deputy Hines
Paxton Whitehead	...	Harvey Wilks
Tom Aldredge	...	Dr. Robinson
Laura Bell Bundy	...	Susan Wilks (as Laura Bundy)
Curtis Armstrong	...	Country Jake
Mary Louise Wilson	...	Miss Watson
Frances Conroy	...	Scrawny Shanty Lady
Danny Tamberelli	...	Ben Rodgers (as Daniel Tamberelli)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild violence and language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-10/7 | Germany:6 | Iceland:L | Peru:PT | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Jefferson Military College - Highway 61, Washington, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

"Pap Finn"'s belch was added in later to be louder. Writer/Director Stephen Sommers says Ron Perlman, the actor who plays Pap Finn, "wasn't really good at belching".

Goofs:

Continuity: Huck's raft is rammed (at 41:49) by a ship with a high bow, designed for rough/open seas. But when the camera angle changes, we see a typical Mississippi paddle steamer with the characteristically low bow, steaming by the wreckage.

Quotes:

[to Huck]
Pap Finn: But I'm... I'm your next of kin... and you're my little angel.

Movie Connections:

Version of Huckleberry Finn (1974)

Soundtrack:

String Quartet No.17 'Jagd' in B-Flat major, K.458

I've yet to see a perfect film version of Twain's excellent story, but this version is still quite alright

I have read the popular novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain and I found it to be an instant classic and a book definitely worth my time. When it comes to movie adaptations, I've seen very few. The 1993 version titled "The Adventures of Huck Finn" stars a young Elijah Wood as Huckleberry and Courtney B. Vance as Jim and also featured in the cast are some other well-known faces such as Ron Perlman, Jason Robards, Robbie Coltrane, and James Gammon. Overall, with this star-laden cast, the movie is quite entertaining in its own way. Like other films I can think of, it's beginning made little sense and happened a little too suddenly with no room for proper pacing or development. But once this had gone by, I did find myself enjoying the movie quite a bit.

Wood was, and still is a fine young actor and his performance as Huckleberry was noteworthy. I did like Courney B. Vance's performance as Jim and I think he rendered and portrayed the character with absolute perfection. After him, I did like Jason Robards and Robbie Coltrane as the bumbling con artists who call themselves the king and the duke. Ron Perlman was also a good choice to play Huckleberry's deranged father, unfortunately he wasn't given enough screen time to show his quintessential talents for the role and he wasn't quite involved in the story enough as he was in the book.

One thing that did disappoint me was that the screenwriters wrote out the character of Tom Sawyer, probably due to concern of containing too many characters for a 108-minute film. So I can understand the filmmakers' decision and accept it. Maybe the inclusion would have slowed the movie down, maybe not. But all and all, I did very much enjoy "The Adventures of Huck Finn" and although it is not a perfect adaptation of Mark Twain's excellent book, I still enjoyed it.