Product Description

From the directors of Disney's ALADDIN and THE LITTLE MERMAID comes a spectacular new motion picture for the entire family. Buckle up for thrills and excitement as a classic story of friendship, courage, and self-discovery gets an incredible futuristic twist for an all-new generation. It's "another jewel in the crown of Disney animated classics" (Clay Smith, Access Hollywood). A secret map inspires a thrilling treasure hunt across the universe as young Jim Hawkins and a hilarious cosmic crew headed by the daring Captain Amelia set off in search of their destiny. Aboard a glittering space galleon, Jim meets the ship's cyborg cook, John Silver, who teaches him the value of friendship and the power of dreams. Jim soon teams up with his crazy new robot pal, B.E.N., and the shape-shifting Morph to discover a treasure greater than he ever imagined. Featuring an all-star voice cast including Emma Thompson, Martin Short, David Hyde Pierce, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray, and Michael Wincott -- TREASURE PLANET is "a magical, inventive, and utterly delightful movie" (Paul Clinton, CNN).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5214 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.com
A pet project of Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules codirectors Ron Clements and John Musker, Treasure Planet is an ambitious animation hybrid (traditional animation combined with elaborate CGI backgrounds). It was the subject of numerous in-studio battles, but Disney office politics and a poor public reception distracted from its many admirable qualities, not the least being its overall fidelity to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island. Curiously revamped as a sci-fi adventure with spacefaring galleons, flintlock ray guns, and extreme-sports attitude, it caters to an young audience for whom Stevenson's adventure is an unknown quantity, revving up the material with arcade-game excitements. It's entertaining, for what it is, and kids will surely enjoy it. Maybe next time, however, Disney will follow its own legacy and properly adapt Stevenson (as they did with their 1950 live-action classic) for a new, and hopefully receptive, generation. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Disney's latest animated feature-"Treasure Island" in space-lacks the sophistication of many of its previous epic cartoons. Although the traditional animation and computer-generated effects combine brightly, the story is a leaden rehash: once again, the search for adventure teaches the hero to value friendship and loyalty above all. Even the voice work of serious pros like Martin Short, Emma Thompson, and David Hyde Pierce is lacklustre. Yo-ho-hum. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Treasure Planet is what going to the movies is all about.
Like the title says, Treasure Planet, Disney's newest cinema release, is what going to the movies is all about. I find it interesting that some adults complain about the sci-fi angle not being true to the original Stevenson story, while youths are saying that it inspired them to read the original story. Surely a movie that can inspire youngsters to read the classics in this day and age can't be all bad.

In fact, it's quite good. Treasure Planet fist offers a wonderful feast for the eyes. My wife and I always make it a point to see a Disney movie in theatres at least once, and Treasure Planet would have been a lost opportunity if we had passed on it. The animation is spectacular, with fluid motion and an organic feel to the characters. Disney is definitely getting a better handle on merging their hand-drawn and computer-generated animation.

Moviegoers that panned Lilo & Stitch will probably not care for Treasure Planet. It's not your standard Disney formula. Things don't start off rosy, get a little shady, then go right back to a blissful existence under the sea. The story stays mostly true to Stevenson's tale about a boy becoming a man, and discovering the strength inside himself to carve out his own destiny.

The sci-fi angle brings a fresh spin to the story, and Disney has managed to make cruising the stars resemble taking to the seas, but with a broader feel. The only downside is the idea of spacefaring vessels looking like tall ships is more proof that Disney steals a lot of ideas from anime. But, since anime grew out of the Japanese interpretation of the Disney style, it's only fair.

Thrills, action, adventure, a hint of romance, and a healthy dose of humor, coupled with some of the best animation Disney has done in a while make Treasure Planet worth seeing.

Although, I could have lived without the flatulent alien.

Put down the cudgels, it's not bad at all.
Unlike just about every 'review' I've read online for TP thus far, I have actually seen the film.
Like most animation lovers, I was trepidatious about TP after the muddled fiasco that was 'Atlantis', and believed that Disney was courting another disaster taking not not only another 'dramatic' film, but one based on a much-loved classic tale. Something they don't have a very good reputation for (Hercules, Hunchback, etc). Personally, I have little time for people who deride a film for DARING to stray even one WORD from its literary source. The entire film industry, not just Disney, have been doing this since the medium was invented. Film requires a different treatment of a story than printed word. And in this instance, I feel that Disney have done a very impressive job at reinterpreting RLS's classic story.
It's set in space, but a space where you are required to suspend disbelief no further than to accept that there is no vaccuum. In other words, no more than your middle-range 50's scifi flick. The design and art direction are superb. I have not read the book myself, but reports from those who have say that Disney has stuck quite closely to Treasure Island, in characters and in plot. Some things have been changed, yes, to conform with modern audience expectations: Captain Smollet is Captain Amelia in the Disney version, but she's no Token Female Character - she's tough and ably voiced by Emma Thompson. The climax has been oomphed up a bit, because let's face it, pirates getting drunk and offing each other makes pretty dull cinema. John Silver looks fantastically gnarled and pirate-y under Glen Keane's pencil. His much-touted CGI appendages are discretely and smoothly seamed with his 2D animation and aren't distracting. The story is a very simple one and the emotional beats are nicely paced, unlike the lurching mess that Atlantis was. Intimate scenes play out nicely without seeming to drag anything down.
However, I wouldn't be giving it 3 stars if it didn't have some faults: The sidekick/comedy relief characters ARE annoying - the parrot is replaced with an adorably cute pink shapeshifter called Morph. Ben Gunn is replaced with an android called B.E.N, who is voiced by Martin Short, and Jim should have switched him off within ten seconds of meeting him. I dare say some viewers will hate Jim's blandness in comparison to the other characters, but he has intelligence and Gen-X smarts to keep him from being another Bland Disney Hero. Other viewers will scorn with glee at the sometimes VERY obvious influence of Star Wars, Titan A.E, Aliens, Pepsi Max and the Goonies. But after Atlantis, I'd hardly blame the directors for playing it safe - it just goes to show just how hard it is to come up with an original family-oriented scifi story these days.
All in all, I'd give it 7 out of 10. I didn't get bored at all and even reached the edge of my seat once or twice. Some people, including Treasure Island lovers, will like it a lot. Many will probably hate it, just because...well, it's DISNEY, innit? But I urge everyone who would otherwise condemn this film on the idea alone to actually go and SEE it before you sharpen the Nasty Pen. It may surprise you. A most enjoyable film. Not an instant classic like 'Lilo and Stitch', but a very worthy addition to the Disney canon.

Entertaining, if flawed, TREASURE PLANET
It's always a gamble when you adapt a timeless classic like Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." It's even especially dicey when you take the story out of its original setting and time. In this case, Walt Disney studios try to give the old swashbuckler a futuristic sci-fi spin in TREASURE PLANET, a film that partially succeeds in that task. Set in a future time on a far off planet, the familiar story of heroic cabin-boy Jim Hawkins and the charming pirate Long John Silver is given the space ace treatment. Instead of the one legged pirate we know, Long John is now a cyborg. The Squire and Doctor characters who lead the treasure expedition are combined into one eccentric type (David Hyde-Pierce), while the ship's captain is a no nonsense feline voiced by Emma Thompson. Finally, the castaway Ben Gunn is reimagined as a run-at-the mouth robot (Martin Short), who has lost his memory chip. The animation is stunning and many of these characterizations work for the most part. The one exception is the cyborg Silver. Played with an Irish brogue and charm, I found it hard to really see this character as being totally capable of evil, as is his counterpart in the original book. Indeed, it's hard to take this softie seriously at times. Part of the attraction of the Long John Silver creation is that he is a balance of good and evil. He becomes a character we like, even as we loath his deeds.
Other than that, this film is suprisingly faithful to the book in the basic plot, and it deserved better than what the critics gave the film when it was first released. Overall, this is a version that I would recommend, despite the fact that there are better adaptations and better portrayals of Long John Silver elsewhere.