Just perfect...

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Oh, where to begin with this movie. I'll start with some of the good: Eric Schweig was perfectly cast as the murderous, intimidating, menacing Injun Joe. If I could create my own Tom Sawyer classic movie, I'd recast him. Same with Michael McShane as Muff Potter. Jonathan Taylor Thomas sounds like the perfect Tom Sawyer on paper; he does have a history of playing rambunctious, trouble-making boys, and he has a special place in my heart as Simba from The Lion King, my favorite Disney movie. But here...he's just alright. He doesn't have as much of the edge that made Tom Sawyer such a fascinating, dynamic character. Most of the blame for that goes to the writers though; I'm sure Thomas would have done much better had he been given better material to work with. Everyone else was sorely miscast (i.e Huckleberry Finn, Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly, Widow Douglas, Joe Harper, etc.), and the characters who did have decent casting (Judge Thatcher, Ben Rogers, Mr. Dobbins, etc.) didn't stand out very much.No attempt was made to create the atmosphere of Tom Sawyer (the dialect, the plot, the setting, the characters, etc.) Every boy, including Tom Sawyer, went barefoot in the book, but in the movie they all wore shoes. This may not seem like a big deal, but it's part of the edge Tom Sawyer and his friends have in the book; they're not afraid to get down and dirty in the adventures they have, and the boys who do wear shoes in the book are looked down upon as sissies.Huckleberry Finn in the books was carefree, laid-back, and is satisfied with his independent lifestyle. Although he is despised by every "respectable" adult in St. Petersburg, he's envied and friends with most of the children, and he doesn't feel sorry for himself. Brad Renfro's Huck is snide, irritable, sarcastic, and even somewhat of a bully, nothing at all like Twain's Huck. This Huck DOES feel sorry for himself, and often takes his frustrations out on Tom.Becky Thatcher in the book is a bit too demure and puts on airs. But she isn't a bitch. In the book, Tom gets back into her good graces by taking the hit for her (literally) and their relationship grows even stronger in the cave scene. In the movie, she's portrayed as a bitch plain and simple; in fact she holds a continuous grudge against Tom throughout the movie, which makes their bonding in the cave scene really forced. Not to mention that Rachael Leigh Cook as Becky Thatcher is probably the worst case of miscasting in this movie; she was way too old and was a good two heads taller than Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Disney could have made their own version of Tom Sawyer great, especially with Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the lead. What a wasted, missed opportunity.

Maybe it's because I read the book before viewing it, or maybe I was over-analyzing it, but I swear this was one of the worst movies I ever saw. I mean it.First of all, why is it called Tom and Huck? After watching the entire movie, I came to the conclusion that the film really should have been titled "Tom and a few other people". Huck rarely has any affect on the story, and his character is always in the shadow of Tom. Anyway, as I mentioned, I had to read this book for school right before also watching the movie,in school. Now, I know what happens in the Mark Twain's classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I know the plot, the story, the key events, and the settings of the book. However, I don't think that the creators of this movie do. Right off the bat, the movie features an event that never happens in the book. That's a bad sign right there.I also did not like the acting. I suppose Johnathan Thomas was alright as Tom Sawyer, but I did not like the roles of Huck, Injun Joe, or Becky Thatcher. The performances that these actors gave were bland and totally non-believable.The thing I hated the MOST though, was the movie's sheer stupidity. I can not believe how many inexcusable moments there were in the movie. And it's not just the fact that there are parts that aren't from the book. But there are some parts that just do not make any sense, whatsoever. I question sometimes what the writers(not Mark Twain) were thinking when they wrote this. There is a scene in the movie in which Tom is doing stunts on a bridge that's above a small, shallow creek. Becky comes along and PUSHES Tom off the bridge and into the creek! Now, this may not sound bad, until you realize that if his angle of fall was just a tad steeper, he probably would either broken his neck or have been killed. There is another part that absolutely made me grind my gears. There is a scene in the movie in which Tom and Huck need to get the treasure map from Injun Joe, who is sleeping in the forest after drinking a pretty good amount of alcohol. Tom and Huck then realize they need to blend in with the back round, so they cover themselves with mud. Tom starts walking toward Injun Joe, who wakes up and looks straight at Tom, but doesn't see him as if he is the Predator and Tom is fooling his infrared vision with the mud on him. I mean come on! I realize that Injun Joe is supposed to be super drunk, but can you really be drunk enough to not notice the giant piece of mud in front of you that looks suspiciously a lot like a boy? As for the rest of the movie, I can't say it doesn't follow the basic plot of the book; it does. But it seems to be butchered. There are many parts of it which either A) Don't belong there and come later/earlier in the story; B) Never even happen in the book; or C) Are missing.In Conclusion, I give this movie a 2/10. Why a 2 instead of a 1? Well, because the movie did supply me with some good laughs, but sadly, that's all it offers.

Disney did good but still this version will never compare to the 1970's musical version. "Tom and Huck for a New Generation" is what this movie should have been called. The storyline stays true to the book but there is a modern day mid 90s feel about the relationship between Tom and Huck. Not unlike the old days when Tom and Huck in other filmed versions would simply drop what they were doing to go and play the ultimate prank on their unsuspecting prey.

Just recently I sat and watched Tom and Huck with the children i was watching. I found it to be a delightful film with an exeptional and interesting take on the original stories of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. It was very interesting to see how the combined the details of both boys lives to make a story with both of them being the main title characters. I would definitely recommend this movie to anybody.