The Modern Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1999)

Not Your Average Tom.

THE MODERN ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER begins on an interesting premise, placing Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer in modern suburban America. However, the film doesn't work really well. The budget of the picture was obviously low and much of the writing is rather corny. Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, and Becky Thatcher are the only major characters that remain true to Twain's original story. Huck Finn has been changed to a kid named Chuck who instead of being a "negative" influence upon Tom, is the one that Tom influences negatively. There are other instances of changing the story to make it politically correct and outside of the famous fence painting episode and a showdown between Tom and Joe at the end, there really isn't much left of Twain's original tale. Erik Estrada of "Chips" fame plays Joe, the phony developer who cons the town, and David L. Lander, who played Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley", plays the Mayor. I didn't enjoy this film as much as I thought I would. However, overall the movie is a decent family flick that kids will enjoy, but doesn't contain much depth or substance. February 24, 2002

More reviews at Amazon.com ...