The Adventures of Mark Twain

After recently watching this film on video, I realized I had finally seen a movie I have waited 15 years to see since I missed it in the theatres when it first came out. I was not disappointed. Will Vinton Studios went out of their way to produce a masterpiece: the animation is top-notch, the story is amusing, intelligent, and marked with wry humor. I was particularly impressed with the section with the Mysterious Stranger. Most of the film focuses on the story of Adam and Eve. They explore Twain's dark side and his emotional side. Through all the subject matter, it still remains a family movie. Absolutely brilliant.

A lot of things amaze me about this movie. First of all, this movie came out when I was a kid, and I had never heard of it until this past week. Second, someone actually got around to releasing it on DVD, although with virtually no special features. And third, of all the movies the Claymation guys could have picked, they chose this one. They could have had a California Raisins movie, but instead they chose to go with Mark Twain. In the short run, it was probably not a financially successful move. In the long run, however, it was a very smart move.

This movie, simply put, is so . . . cool. I've always been a fan and admirer of Mark Twain, but never in my life could I have imagined that he could be the subject of a movie where he flies a hot-air balloon/spaceship into Halley's Comet. The Star Wars-esquire introduction in the beginning, however, ties it all together pretty well, at least for those of us who are paying attention.

One of my complaints about the movie, which is more of a compliment than anything else, is that the movie wasn't long enough. Of course, I know that in stop-motion animation it takes an 8 hour day for an animator to make 5 seconds of a film. The fact that it made me want even more is a testament to how good this film is. Anyone who is a fan of animation, AND a fan of Mark Twain will love this movie.

Having said that, however, there were a few issues I had with this movie. First of all, despite the fact that it was G-rated, it was pretty dark in some areas. The one part in particular which I would think would send kids out of the TV room screaming is the part where the three kids (Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher) encounter an "Angel" named Satan. This part of the movie encompasses Twain's unfinished novel (and unquestionably his darkest story), "The Mysterious Stranger". I personally found that part very chilling, but I can't say for sure if it was because Satan himself was frightening to hear and look at, or if the subject matter from an adult's understanding was too much to handle. Perhaps both.

Also, there were some parts in the movie that were very confusing, and contained a half-baked explanation towards the end. For instance, it's very confusing when another member of the ship is found aboard, without giving too much away. The sequences with this member (up until the very end) are choppy at best, and make way for some serious plot holes. It is also not very well explained why Tom Sawyer wanted off the ship. He was eager to get on, and I could understand his equal eagerness to get off too. However, when you're in space, there's really not a lot you can do about it.

My other complaint with the movie was that it spent way too much time on Mark Twain's take on the Adam & Eve story. I really wanted to see other Claymation interpretations of his other stories, such as Pudd'nhead Wilson or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, to name a few. Although the Adam & Eve segment was funny, and in the end was actually quite sweet, it still should have been shortened to ten minutes tops.

Other than that, the movie was great, and one I'll probably keep in my DVD collection for as long as I can. James Whitmore made a great Mark Twain (although Hal Holbrook also could have done a great job, since Mark Twain is his most famous role outside of film), and the plot, although confusing at times, was so original. Kids may not get the Mark Twain references that other adults may pick up, but they could return to the movie after graduating high school or college and pick up the references immediately.

So I highly recommend "The Adventures of Mark Twain" to everyone. I loved it, and I'm telling everyone I know about it soon.

This is some great claymation. Great detail caught in the facial expressions, lots of characters and settings. This film is truly a captivating visual experience. Mark Twain is driving an airship to Haley's Comet into his demise, and his characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have stowawayed themselves on the ship. Some of Mark Twain's other stories are told in the process in claymation, and creation, death, and the afterlife are all explored. This film is not just for kids as it has a very adult sense of humor and some very deep themes. I really enjoyed it more than I expected too, definitely a classic in clay-animation.

I must have seen The Adventures of Mark Twain for the first time over twelve years ago, and for over a decade it had haunted me... rarely, if ever, rebroadcast, I was left only with vague memory of what I remembered as one of the most vibrant pieces of visual art and storytelling that I was exposed to as a youth. I recently purchased it directly from the studio that released it, and got to return to it for the first time in a long time. Of course, when returning to childhood films, you always run the risk of being disappointed by the film being worse than you recall. Luckily, I was not disappointed at all. The story is of Mark Twain's characters Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher as they stow on board an airship created by Mark Twain himself. Through the course of their journey across the world to meet Haley's comet, we are invited to retellings of Twain stories and meet all sorts of different characters. The humour is intelligent and dry, but not over the heads of children.

Visually, this piece is stunning. There is something vivid and tactile about stop-motion animation that will always appeal to me more than any CGI creation. Will Vinton outdoes himself with this piece. From the grandeur of Twain's airship or the Garden of Eden, to the detail of Twain's parlour/billiard room and the simple, truthful human expressions that the animators manage to create on the characters' faces, the film is impressive from first to last.

What surprised me the most is how this film, which I remembered as a children's or family film, is in fact quite dark. It deals with aspects of life, death, evil, and human nature that one would never expect in a so-called "family" film. But while the outward darkness, and, at times, even morbidity of individual aspects may seem inappropriate for family viewing, it comes from the sane and grounded perspective that Twain himself seems to have been known for. Like in any good storytelling, the dark side of humanity is not spared from the viewer just because of the potentially youthful audiences.

By way of criticism, the film could definitely move at a faster pace. The humour, while clever and dry, as I said, could have been pushed farther. There were many times the film set us up for quite a punchline and then didn't deliver, instead settling for a consistent level of pleasant amusement. And I wish the episodic structure had been more fully taken advantage of, and had been extended into even more stories. But that may just be me wishing the movie was longer than 86 minutes. You can't have too much of a good thing.

I give the storytelling an 8 out of 10, and visuals a 10 of 10. Overall, a 9. There aren't too many of those, as far as I'm concerned.

And even if you didn't like this movie, you gotta admit, it's one of a kind.

I love this movie! I can't believe it's not even available on VHS. My TV tape copy is dying and I can't replace it. I'll have to look at transferring it to DVD from tape.

This is a great fantasy tale of Mark Twain and Halley's Comet with Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, and Huck Finn. I love all the sidepieces just on their own: the story of Adam and Eve, how everyone's heaven is not the same, and the mysterious stranger, the time machine.

It is also an excellent example of Claymation. This should definitely be a classic. If someone like Disney created this, this would have made it to DVD or even VHS by now.