10 Wonderfully Quirky And Eccentric Animated Movies
10. The Adventures Of Mark Twain
Released in the United Kingdom as Comet Quest, Will Vinton's 1985 stop motion animated feature, The Adventures of Mark Twain, begins with the following quote from the author: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together." Mark Twain is joined by three children - Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher - as he sets out to keep his appointment with Halley's Comet. Weaving in a number of Twain's stories into its episodic structure, we follow the crew of an air balloon as they travel from one bizarre world to the next, taking in everything from the trials and tribulations in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve to Captain Stormfield's heavenly encounter at the pearly gates. The film was something of an undeserved flop upon its release - it's a hugely entertaining take on one of the most fascinating writers in American history. Besides being visually inventive with a distinct approach to character design, The Adventures of Mark Twain is also surprisingly mature in the nature of some of the themes it explores - few animated movies aimed at children explore life, death and human nature in such an entertaining fashion.
