When I was little, I used to have this video of stop-motion shorts directed by Will Vinton. It was hosted by a parody of Siskel and Ebert, where Siskel was portrayed as a pretentious and slightly mean-spirited T-Rex and Ebert was depicted as an overweight Stegosaurs who pigged out at the concession stand. Looking back on it from age, I remember that I seemed really interesting that I should try to find it again, but I never got around to it.
But then I spotted The Adventures of Mark Twain, Vinton's only full length feature, and one of very few features made in the tedious stop-motion style. And it is a completely unique experience - beautiful and thought provoking, but also a mess structurally and at times confusing. Because of the rule that all animated films are supposedly for kids only, it's rated G and was marketed towards children, this is not really a film for that audience, unless kids today are now into the story of a 70 year old man on a quest to commit suicide with a brief stop over in Hell.
Inspired by many of Twain's writings, but especially the mediocre Tom Sawyer, Abroad the film opens as Tom Sawyer (voice of Chris Richie), his good friend Huck Finn (Gary Krug) and their, uh, acquaintance Becky Thatcher (Michele Mariana) stow away on an air ship built by Twain (James Whitmore). Twain takes off from the Earth to commit suicide by flying the ship into Halley's Comet, because life has become unbearable after the death of his beloved wife. On the way, Twain tells the kids some of his most famous stories, such as "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calvarias County" and "The Diary of Adam and Eve". They also stop over at various metaphysical places, including Heaven for an alien species and Hell with an encounter with Satan himself, who invites the kids to create life and then destroys it for his own pleasure. At the same time, the dark side of Twain has physically manifested itself on the ship. Although I don't usually give away the ending of movies, I think it's important to say that (spoiler) this is not a cheesy movie where Tom, Becky and Huck teach their creator that life is worth living, in the end, Twain succeeds in committing suicide.
First the pros: first, as a fan of Twain, this movie is a wonderful vehicle for Twain's work, capturing much of the writer's wit and interest in spiritual issues (the film is correct in stating that the writer was devasted after the death of his wife and felt throughout his life that he would die when Halley's comet returned, which he did, although not by his own hand). Second, this movie has without exaggeration the best character animation I have ever seen. The models are stunningly expressive. Vinton's visuals have a real wit to them that matches Twain's verbal prose.
Now the cons: In some ways, this is a mess. It has so many ideas and different episodes that it fails to be a real narrative from beginning to end. The film is never sure whether is wants to be about a quest for Tom and his friends or merely a framing device for Twain's stories. Many of metaphysical aspects of the film work fine as scenes unto themselves (the scene in Hell is a standout) but don't fit into the rest of the movie. There are also sudden tonal shifts between whimsical Americana (the "Jumping Frog" story), witty philosophy (the alien Heaven) and serious psychoanalyses (Twain's death wish).
But hey- I'd rather have a film fail because it has too many ideas than too little. This a good film that has some scenes of greatness, in it. It is probably the best representation of Twain's work on screen and certainly one of the most thought-provoking animated films ever made.
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985)