If you take all of Hollywood's current money-making impulses and twist them around, I'm pretty sure you'd end up with the project featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn currently in the works. The Paramount project, Huck, comes from a spec script by Andy Burg and will be produced by the Rise of the Planet of the Apes team Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark. My first thought was, "What a terrible idea," so here I'll explain why.
Why Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are the wrong kind of iconic, pre-sold properties. I get that Hollywood is all about showing viewers familiar characters. There's an updated Sherlock Holmes and every single fairy tale known to man is getting re-done, often with stellar results. On the flip side, remember Gulliver's Travels? That update of a classic bombed. This project plans on taking Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and then aging them up to adulthood. There's another trend they're capitalizing on--the adult boy. But I can't and don't want to see the charming antics of mischievous kids transferred to adults. It's not as funny when adults are acting like children.
The addition of "supernatural" elements is just following trends. Have you heard about a series called Harry Potter? Twilight? They all involve magic and horrific creatures. So why not add supernatural elements to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer? No, no, no. I hate the idea of taking Mark Twain's beloved characters, aging them up, then making them fight ghosts or monsters. In the original books, the characters are runaways, fight thieves and murderers, and dig up trunks full of gold. What about this premise isn't fantastical enough? These were all things kids thought maybe could happen to them, but never did. Moving into the supernatural just adds another dimension that isn't necessary. Did I mention the production team's inspiration is Snow White and the Huntsman, an upcoming iteration of the fairy tale that turns the poison apple story into an epic battle picture?
I'm actually fine with Snow White and the Huntsman providing an update on a classic, centuries-old fairy tale. But I'm less inclined to see Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, who are specific products of their era, the 1840s, changed. The changes Huck proposes would completely alter the nature of these characters. They aren't just adults, they're adults fighting ghosts or vampires or weird curses. Twain's work was as much a commentary on its era as it was an adventure, and that would be lost. If this project ever enters production, I think Hollywood will learn a lesson that not all iconic characters can be distorted in order to fit the day's trends, and still end up a blockbuster hit. On that note, don't even get me started on what Michael Bay plans to do to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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