Poor Robert Louis Stevenson must have spun in his grave faster than a spinning top when this Disney sci-fi animated movie based on his classic novel Treasure Island was made in 2002. And, yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Young Jim Hawkins (Gordon-Levitt) is now a restless, broody teen with a holographic map to a treasure planet who flies off into outer space aboard a space galleon to find the loot. There’s comedy in the form of Dr Doppler (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and BEN (Martin Short as a computerised navigator), while other changes include a female (and feline) ship’s captain (Thompson) and, horror of horrors, Long John Silver is now John Silver, a cyborg (Murray)!
While the animation is slick and very impressive in places, this is otherwise a right mess – why do the space ships of the future look like galleons and have sails? How come they can stand on the deck when there’s no oxygen in space? And, most importantly, what on earth were Disney thinking?
Is Treasure Planet suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
A crew member falls from the ship to his death, but it isn’t very upsetting.
If you like this, why not try: Treasure Island, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Peter Pan 1953, 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad,