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The Adventures Of Huck Finn review

We review The Adventures Of Huck Finn - a fun rather than entirely faithful version of the Mark Twain novel

The Adventures of Huck Finn

The Adventures Of Huck Finn

Certificate: PG

Starring: Elijah Wood, Courtney B Vance, Robbie Coltrane

Release date: 1993

3 out of 5

3

Mark Twain’s classic story set in the American South before the civil war is fun rather than faithful to the novel, as Elijah Wood’s Huck runs away from his alcoholic father and journeys down the Mississippi on a raft with escaped slave Jim (Vance). Some of the characters from the book hardly get a look-in here, and events that fans of the novel may remember are sometimes dealt with too swiftly by The Mummy director Stephen Sommers, but Vance, Wood and co-stars Coltrane and Jason Robards are all enjoyable to watch, and this is a simple, Disney version that may work best as an introduction to the novel for pre-teen viewers.

In fact, no movie version has done the book justice, but the 1939 version, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with Mickey Rooney as Huck, remains the closest to the text. Rooney is perfect as the young boy, and there is great support from a cast that includes Rex Ingram as Jim, Walter Connolly as ‘The King’ and Victor Kilian as Pap Finn.

Is The Adventures Of Huck Finn suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...

This has a few scary bits not suitable for little children under 7. Huck’s father threatens him with a knife, we see a slave whipped (although you do not see the whip hitting skin) and Huck is shot near the end of the movie.

If you like this, why not try: A High Wind In Jamaica, Holes, Kidnapped, Lord Of The Flies, To Kill A Mockingbird,