Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot.
I was a junior in college before I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I'd been familiar with the story for years, having seen the Disney film with Elijah Wood in the title role, but it wasn't until I was 20 that I actually dived headfirst into Mark Twain's masterpiece. I loved it, just as I suspected I would, and the discussions my class had on it were some of the most riveting of my college career.
Riveting is the word of the day in Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue, the lavish latest installment in the VeggieTales series, which uses expertly computer animated vegetables to tell entertaining stories that convey important moral lessons. It's used tongue-in-cheek, as a description the lazy Mr. Lunt applies to every novel read by the Veggie Book Club, including Huckleberry Finn. This segment framing the main adventure is a hoot for an English major like me, as it pokes fun at those who don't bother doing their homework - and miss out on a grand story in the meantime. While other members of the book club don't even bother to pretend they've read the book, preferring to focus on snacks, Mr. Lunt gets a conversation started with his use of "Norm's Notes," a reference to Cheers that gave me my first guffaw of the DVD, and certainly not the last.
What happens when the Veggies take on the great Mark Twain? All sorts of silliness, as one might expect. The lesson is on helping others, which is appropriate given Huck and Jim's dedication to each other in the novel. The mood is set with the use of a folksy, banjo-playing narrator who bears a strong resemblance to the author and introduces himself as Clark Wayne, a name that manages to play on Mark Twain while also referencing Superman and Batman in two smooth syllables. This elderly leek, otherwise known as George from The Toy That Saved Christmas, not only provides plenty of story-related exposition, he also gives brief lessons in American history and geography, and several anachronisms pop up throughout the adventure seemingly just so he can point them out as such. The one thing he doesn't do, at least for the majority of the movie, is interfere with the characters, as that breaks the prime directive of detached narration.
The look of the video is fantastic, especially the rippling river upon which much of the action takes place. There are verdant forests, heavy logging operations and the eye-popping spectacle of the 1904 World's Fair, and all of the characters are dressed in period clothing. Tom (Bob the Tomato) and Huck (Larry the Cucumber) are not mischievous boys but homesteading bachelors, each with a different idea of entrepreneurship. Huck's plan is both silly and altruistic, while Tom's is more practical and self-serving. Both of them are thrown into a tizzy when a raft carrying Big Jim, an escaped convict, washes ashore. By setting the story later, Phil Vischer, who wrote the episode, evades the slavery issue, instead making Jim an innocent man who is framed for a crime and forced into years of hard labor, torn from the mama he loves so very much. This changes Huck's dilemma, so searing in the book, making it a much clearer choice between doing what's good for him and what's good for his friend rather than between what he's been told is right and what he feels is right. Given the context, however, I can live with this crucial change, and the fact that Huck takes the high road before Tom does feels true to the book.
Aside from Tom, Huck and Jim, the only characters directly lifted from the book are the ludicrous con men the King and the Duke, played by Jimmy and Jerry Gourd. A love of travel and adventure runs through the story, with songs celebrating the mighty Mississippi, most notably Clark's duet with his Native American canoe guide and Jim's duet with his mama. The silly song is an ode to ridiculous road trips; sung by an uncharacteristically enthusiastic Archibald Asparagus, it's a fast-paced, semi-comprehensible song about a fabled biscuit that serves as a roadside attraction. The bouncing VW bus in which Archie, Larry and their friends travel make this song extra fun. (Speaking of road trips, when I ordered my copy of the DVD online, I also received a CD containing six great travel songs and a book full of suggested car games, many of which I can recall playing myself.)
Keep your eye out for nods to pop culture. Meet Me in St. Louis is mentioned several times in various ways, and Monty Python fans can't miss a quick spoof of the lumberjack song. I was even more excited by what seemed a nod to a memorable moment early in Peter Jackson's version of Fellowship of the Ring, soon to be followed by scene lifted right out of The Princess Bride. Of course, while "Saturday morning fun" is part of the Veggie tagline, so is "Sunday morning values," and the video delivers well on that front too, though I was surprised not to hear God directly mentioned until two-thirds through the movie. Rest assured, however, that there's still a Bible verse at the end of the video, and the message - "Sometimes not helping is the same thing as hurting" - is one of the most memorable and important presented in the series, so take a ride along the big river with Tom and Huck and get swept away.
MOVIE DVD - Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry spend most of their days lounging on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River and making ambitious pl...More at Barnes and Noble
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