Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

jameslculp The acting here is really awful and the cast is so bad I was expecting a white guy in black face to play Jim. This would have been a nightmare to work on, as the production quality is fair, but every day watching the daily's your face would hurt from "Face Palm". This movie should NOT have been made! Fern Champion & Marianne Stanicheva the people credited with casting, should NEVER work again!

fourpuke I love the Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn stories, and have collected as many filmed versions as possible, including updated ones. When this DVD appeared, I had high hopes of its content because of the presence of Jake T. Austin & Joel Courtney, both likable and very capable young actors. Oh dear, what a mess it turned out to be, adapted and directed by Jo Kastner from Germany, and filmed in Bulgaria. It was clear from the start that Kastner had little cultural grasp on Mark Twain's small town, mid-West American world in the middle of the 19th Century, nor any grasp whatsoever of pace and depth in presenting the characters and story. It is an express train journey through "Tom Sawyer", with a bit of "Huckleberry Finn" pointlessly stuck on the end, with no time to explore or indulge in the unfolding scenes. The inclusion of Val Kilmer (doubtless for "star" appeal) portraying the author Mark Twain wasted valuable time which should have gone into the main plot.Whilst Joel Courtney did his smiling best in the role of Tom Sawyer, Jake T. Austin played Huckleberry Finn at best with detachment if not actually in a continuous sulk, perhaps aware of the poor material he was made to perform and unhappy being in Bulgaria, a backward Eastern European country far away from the Mississippi. Katherine McNamara was a poor choice as Becky Thatcher, and the rest of the casting was a mess, not least an insipid Injun Joe. The 2011 German language "Tom Sawyer" film is infinitely more enjoyable, even with the language barrier, and if you want a highly watchable and authentic telling of "Tom Sawyer", the 1938 film starring Tommy Kelly holds up very well, as does the semi-musical version from 1973 starring Johnny Whitaker. In short, avoid this German/Bulgarian disaster movie like you would food poisoning.

Kirpianuscus maybe, it is not the most inspired adaptation. but it is nice, seductive, cool and funny. and after so many adaptation, front to high expectations, it has the great virtue to be good occasion to remind the atmosphere of a classic. only sin - Val Kilmer as Mark Twain. too much make-up and a too strange performance. but that is only a small detail. an easy film who has the flavor of classic novel. and that is enough for good entertainment. inspired option for the lead characters for the image level, decent performances, beautiful images. and a film not for high expectations but for fun. version for a new generation, it preserves the spirit of original work. and that fact is real important. the others - only few details.

authorcamilson-499-156858 I have always liked a good Mark Twain story, and even moreso, the adventures of "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer" (1979 - ). I remember watching the TV series in 1980, before I would make the 15 mile hike to school through treacherous backwoods, through alligator infested swamps… nah just kidding :) I did walk to school which was about 5 minutes walk, but in those days when I was young, I would re-enact some adventures in my mind and imagine I was there with the lads, having adventures of my own.So when I came across this pearl, I naturally got excited as a child at a free "all you can eat" candy shop. :)The film opens with Mark Twain (Val Kilmer) recounting a story to his grand-kids, and hence the adventure of Huck and Tom continue. In this installment of the much loved tale, Tom and Huck find themselves in a graveyard at midnight, and there they witness Injun Joe (Kaloian Vodenicharov) carry out a murder. Fearing for their own safety, Tom and Huck make a vow of secrecy to never tell a sole. However, that is easier said than done when Muff Potter is the scapegoat and framed for murder. The boys take it upon themselves to clear Potter's good name by any means necessary, even if it means putting themselves in the firing line if Injun Joe.Needless to say, the boys get themselves into all kinds of misadventures in this film, and show that boys will be boys in a time when it was all cool to run around town with no shoes, and sleep out in the woods :)A couple of memorable scenes is when Tom (Joel Courtney) has to paint the picket fence, then he easily cons a few other boys to paint it for him, for a price (nicely done Tom); And in a later scene, when he gets "engaged" to Becky (Katherine McNamara), then makes the reference of when he was engaged to another girl :) (Becky didn't take that too well)The acting by Jake T. Austin (as Huck Finn), and Joel Courtney is wonderful in this adaptation of Mark Twain's novel.I would have given this film a higher score, but I did feel that the casting choice for the role of Injun Joe was not as good as what it could have been, if they would have given the role to a native American to preserve the authenticity of the character.