The Animated Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1998)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pretty Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A year ago, I was with a buddy browsing through the "Animated Films For Children" section of Netflix, to see what kind of trash we could get a good laugh at. We stumbled upon this film and thought the picture looked sort of anime-ish. We decided we'd check it out and were not prepared for what we got. My friend couldn't take much more of it beyond the first 3 minutes, so I ended up watching the rest by myself. My gosh. I don't have the right words to describe how hilariously bad this film is. The dialogue is trash, the story is all over the place and makes no sense, there's nothing remotely interesting or likable about any of the characters, and the animation is beyond wonky and jerky that I found myself laughing it more than the "comedy". And, despite both Tom and Finn being little kids, the character designs make them both look like teenagers (especially Finn). And the other characters' designs look really unappealing when you put them all side by side; some are very cartoon-ish looking, and some look more like comic-book/anime rip off spawns drawn by people who just wanted to go home that day. And the voice acting is... not great. It's not the worst, but it definitely isn't great.The musical segments (yes, this film has musical segments, and LOTS of them) have possibly the most bland song writing I have ever heard. And everyone's singing voice is different from their normal voices. There are a lot of films that do this that aren't bad, but none of them ever sounded this jarring. Every song is complete nothingness, and all sound the same. The only thing that kept my attention in those segments were the terrible choreography and jerky animation, as well as how unfitting the music went with the scene it was placed in. For example, there is a funeral scene (it's not a real funeral, though, I'm not entirely sure what it is... hell I don't think even the movie knows what it is) in this film that has a musical segment and it is the second funniest scene in the entire film, only to be beaten out by the song that immediately (and I'm serious when I say 'immediately') follows.There are also bizarre cut-away fantasy segments that do nothing but lengthen the film's run time. There are also countless moments, that I can't tell if it's the writer's, editor's, director's, or animator's fault, that make you question what's even going on. And I won't give away the ending, but just so you know, wow does it take a weird turn. I felt dumbfounded. It is such a bizarre way to end... anything. I haven't even scratched the surface of this mind-boggling film-trash. There is so much wrong that went into this film that it's remarkable. This is on the same level of The Room in terms of so being bad it's good. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy subjecting themselves to terrible films. Watch it with your buddies, share a few drinks, and have some laughs at something so incredibly dumb-founding that it's not worth subjecting to young, impressionable rugrats.

The Animated Adventures of Tom Sawyer is not awful, nor is it great. The adaptations of the classic story are mixed, adaptation-wise the best version is the 1938 version, the musical version is fun if uneven, the 2000 MGM animated film is very enjoyable and the middle-late 80s animated Australian version is decent. The Soviet film suffered from being too faithful to the story, as well as bad pacing, sloppy lip-synching and editing and horrendous dubbing, and Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas had its moments but the very out-of-kilter way Becky was written, underwritten characterisation and disjointed story-telling were major debits.As said in the review title, as an adaptation of the classic story it fares the least of the seven versions seen so far, feeling too over-simplified and too safe and some of the changes are bizarre.On its own though it is okay. The animation does have some colour and fluidity, not the best animation in the world but it is not a liability and there has been far worse. The voice acting is very good. Especially for the leads, very energetic and charismatic, though Kirsten Dunst as a very charming Becky, Garry Chalk's creepy villain of the piece and Christopher Lloyd in more subdued form as the Judge. And the relationship between Tom and Huck is innocent, resourceful and genuinely friendly. There is definitely some nice nostalgic tone and unlike Tom and Huck there is some attempt to create the sense of living in and inhabiting Missouri.However, this version does suffer from very forgettable songs- absolutely nothing stands out- that are also awkwardly placed and do nothing to enhance the storytelling. The dialogue can be pretty poor too, not very true to Twain's prose with a too modern and simplistic tone and more flow and less stiltedness may have helped things a little. The bare bones of the story is there but not really the impact and the over-simplification doesn't help. Some of the early parts are sweet but the middle and latter parts could have been paced better and have been more coherent. Characters and situations are not very well developed and the songs interrupt the flow, the sense of adventure and suspense are rather diluted.And with the changes, some of them are understandable in order not perhaps to offend with Jim only being mentioned in passing and with the slavery(when that is written in it feels a bit shoe-horned), though it does at times hurt the spirit of the story and the time and place that is trying to be recreated. But some are just bizarre, I saw absolutely no reason for Injun Joe's name to be changed to Tattoo Joe- not a very menacing name for a villain, it's almost comical sounding actually-maybe another attempt of political correctness but it simplifies what this villain stands for to the extent that despite Garry Chalk's voice work that the character is rather insipid.Overall, a long way from terrible but it is not particularly good either, the 2000 MGM animated version is an example of an animated version of Tom Sawyer that works and it is not bad as an adaptation either. It is perhaps a decent introduction to children of the story, but it is left wanting as an adaptation and judged on its own merits there are still things wrong. 5/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon was a bore. It didn't follow the "Tom Sawyer" book very well. The musical numbers were oddly placed, didn't make any sense, and lacked any entertainment value. There was no real storyline or plot to the whole movie, it was more like they took random pages out of Tom Sawyers diary. I had a real hard time caring about anything in this movie. I didn't care about any characters or even about the non existing story. I could only watch this movie in in like 10-15 minute intervals. It was a complete waste of time. It amazed me that this movie could pick up the name power that they got, with the voices of Kirsten Dunst and Christopher Lloyd.

If you watch this cartoon for the purpose of seeing 'Tom Sawyer' represented on screen, you won't like it. It is not for analytical study; it is a children's cartoon, and for this purpose it serves admirably. It's a great movie to show young kids. It provides a good enough background of the story for it's title. It has a lot of catchy sing-songs which kids will enjoy. It also goes out of its way to be mild an non-offensive (the character 'Injun Joe' is here renamed 'Tatoo Joe'), which is fine for its target audience. Sometimes, it seems to make the issues too subdued for the complex work of Tom Sawyer. The issue of slavery is brought up occasionally, but then only awkwardly. The cast does a fine job, Ross Malinger and Ryan Slater in particular as Tom and Huck are great fun to (hear). Remember that a waxed-over version of a story, for children, can still be enjoyable.