Directed by George Kachadorian, The Science of Tom and Huck reimagines Mark Twain’s beloved characters in a series of science-infused adventures. This family-friendly film blends classic storytelling with real-world physics concepts to educate and entertain young viewers.
It’s a summer of mischief for our new friends, Tom Sawyer (Luke Partridge), Huckleberry Finn (Jackson Fults), and Becky Thatcher (Marcelle LeBlanc). There’s a bit of trouble going on in the woods, where former associates of Huck Finn have set bear traps all over the forestin what appears to be a poaching scheme. Becky and the girls are determined to gather or set off every single trap, while talking a bit of politics at the same time.
Tom is in some trouble himself. He gets caught up in an argument with a local bully about science, agrees to a “sure bet,” and loses Becky’s valuable timepiece. To get it back, Tom challenges the bully’s “sure-fire” principle, that a ten-pound rock drops at the same rate as a ten-pound bag of feathers. Science says Tom will win…or will he?
Lastly, Tom and Huck’s friendship is put to the test as both receive money from a trust formed by their previous adventures. Tom is going to use it for college, but Huck wants to use it to help those who helped him. The problem is that his former associates want that money.
“It takes common outdoor activities and explains the science behind them using simple language…”
As the title implies, The Science of Tom and Huck isn’t your typical Mark Twain tale. Taking inspiration from Twain’s classic characters, filmmaker George Kachadorian teaches valuable physics lessons to young children and pre-teens while infusing them through the misadventures of Tom and Huck.
For example, the classic experiment involving a pound of rocks and a pound of feathers pits science against what seems like common sense. Tom’s understanding of gravity is challenged by the concept of air resistance.. While trying to foil the poachers, Tom explains to Huck about how traps work using kinetic and potential energy. Later, Tom teaches us the best stones and angles to use for skipping rocks using weight distribution, shape, and force. Becky also teaches her friends how animals communicate through vibrations.
As a film, The Science of Tom and Huck does exactly what it sets out to do. It’s by no means Citizen Kane, but it succeeds in making complex physics fun and accessible for kids. It takes common outdoor activities and explains the science behind them using simple language how they work, assisted by drawings and animations overlaid on our television screens.
Our lead actors, Luke Partridge, Jackson Fults, and Marcelle LeBlanc, manage to deliver a lot of science dialogue in a natural way. In the end, The Science of Tom and Huck leans more on the edu-tainment versus classic cinematic entertainment. Kachadorian’s tale is a great way to slip the subject of science into the little heads of young kids.
"…not your typical Mark Twain tale."
