If you haven't read Mark Twain's book already, I highly recommend you read it, for it is a truly great and compelling read. While not 100% perfect, this is a worthy film adaptation. As people have pointed out, the film is true in spirit if not in the details to the book, but it is really not bad on its own merits. For one thing, it's beautifully filmed, with crisp cinematography and beautiful scenery. Then there is a wonderful score, very fitting with what was going on on screen. Also a decent script, good direction and even better performances. Elijah Wood does a good enough job in what I consider one of his best performances in the title role, while Courtney B.Vance plays Jim with such feeling and finesse he was perfect. Ron Perlman is suitably brutish, while Jason Robards and Robbie Coltrane come close to stealing the film as the roguish King and Duke. Plus the ending was heart-rending. My only problems were some parts that were too overly-modernised, its length and how Tom Sawyer was written but other than that this is a worthy film and adaptation. 7/10 Bethany Cox

While it seems fairly common for book-to-film adaptations to change things in the process, I've heard that "The Adventures of Huck Finn" went so far as to change what happened at the end. But I've never read the novel, so maybe I shouldn't comment on that. The truth is, Mark Twain intended for his work to be serious (not to get adapted by Disney).

But one point that they certainly kept was something that we talked about in an ethics class that I took two years ago. In one scene, some people ask Huck (Elijah Wood) whether Jim (Courtney B. Vance) is black or white, and Huck says white. You must understand that Huck was raised to believe that slavery was correct and that he should return escaped slaves. According to that, it was immoral for him to lie about Jim. But since slavery has now been mostly - unfortunately, not totally - discredited, it looks perfectly moral for Huck to lie about Jim. Therefore, Huck is a moral nihilist, subscribing to neither approach.

But otherwise, the movie's OK as a simple adventure story. Just not the sort of thing that I necessarily recommend as a history lesson. Also starring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies),Jason Robards, Ron Perlman, Anne Heche, Curtis Armstrong (Booger from "The Revenge of the Nerds") and Frances Conroy (Ruth on "Six Feet Under").

This was a very entertaining film with lots of adventure but the lead kid, played by young Elijah Woods, got on my nerves. The sneer on his face is very annoying, although, to be fair, he could have been worse. In Mark Twain's famous book, Huck is worse than he's shown here. Sorry, but I just didn't like him. At least he cashed in on his srange looks a decade later with LOTR.

Speaking of the book, Disney gets in its typical anti-Christian cheap shot by having Jason Robards dress up as a fake minister, even though that was NOT part of the book.

Racism is a key part of this story, too, and Courtney B. Vance is very likable as the slave. He's just one part, however, of a number of characters and adventures in here. The movie is nicely filmed, too; very colorful.

It was good for one viewing, but that was it for me.