‘The Adventures of Huck Finn’ (PG)

In recent years, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has weathered its share of political scrutiny. What, for instance, should a black child make of a book that depicts slavery as a normal value? Yet this 19th-century river-bound yarn still slices through the tricky revisionism. It remains a sturdy raft, constructed of sound American storytelling.

So sound, in fact, that it can carry any adaptation that hops aboard. Even in Walt Disney's no-frills production, "The Adventures of Huck Finn," that sturdy appeal is apparent. Maybe one day, a directorial powerhouse will create the Amazing Cinematic Version of the Book. Perhaps Robert De Niro (in his ultimate screen role) will play Jim in Martin Scorsese's "Runawayfellas." Or Francis Coppola will unleash "The Heart of Huckleberry," in which government forces send Huck downriver to terminate Jim with extreme prejudice.

Until that unlikely time, it's no hardship to watch Elijah Wood (the kid in just about every movie these days) as Huck, and Courtney B. Vance as Jim, as they sail the Mississippi toward freedom.

Afraid that brutal, drunken father Pap (Ron Perlman) will kill him, Huck fakes a bloody death, then hides out by the river. He is soon joined by slave-friend Jim, who has made his own run for it in the post-mortem confusion. But their initial joy rapidly fades when they see Jim's face on wanted posters -- for Huck's murder.

On a makeshift raft, they head down the Mississippi for the Ohio River, where Jim can set course for the free states. But the journey is banked with trail-sniffing dogs, sleazy wayfarers and bounty hunters. In addition, Huck's friendship for Jim clashes with his ingrained belief that he'll go to hell for helping an escaped slave.

The movie is dependable Disney fare, with twinkly-eyed good characters and cartoonish villains, but it marks Twain: the writer's supple sense of humor; Huck's irrepressible, tall-tale-spinning personality; Jim's simple and dignified presence; and most powerfully, the growing bond between the two.

There is no shortage of dignity for this Jim, and he informs Huck about the wrongness of slavery with appropriate regularity. "Just 'cause you're taught something's right," he says, "and everybody believes it's right, it don't mean it's right."

Above all, there's a straightforward sense of boyish adventure -- and laughs. Pretending to read Huck's future, pseudo-mystic Jim pulls a giant hairy ball from nowhere -- his answer to entrail reading. When Huck asks what the furry thing is, Jim replies, "Hairball from a ox -- puked it up just the other day."

As the unscrupulous rogues who give the two friends their worst trouble, Jason Robards and Robbie Coltrane come on with amusingly broad abandon as, respectively, "The King" and "The Duke." When they introduce themselves -- in a rare burst of honesty -- as robbers and scam artists, Huck declares, "Hell's bells, I wish I knew a good trade."

Through all the adventures (or misadventures), the most stirring moments -- in visual terms -- come on that mighty river. As Huck and Jim run from society, they play games, smoke pipes, stoke fires, chew the fat, even mock-fight each other with imaginary swords. Above the lurch of water and against the sunset-striated skies, the feeling is as hokey as it is sort of stirring. If it does little more than lightly endear itself, "Huck Finn" gives you a powerful sense of the joy of running away, rolling along and heading for freedom.