Review of Treasure Planet (2002) by Rebecca H — 02 Jul 2009

Treasure Island in space. Why not? Disney have made several films of Treasure Island already, and this is a new twist for a new generation.

A space turtle crash lands outside the Hawkins' inn, and promptly dies, leaving Jim, his mother and their family friend, an alien dog, Doctor Doppler, with a strange globe. This turns out to be a map to legendary Treasure Planet, and Jim and Doppler head off to claim the treasure. Unfortunately, the space galleon they hire is filled with space pirates and while Doppler bickers with the female captain, an alien cat, Jim bonds with the cyborg cook, despite being suspicious that he is probably the cyborg the space turtle warned him about.

The futuristic touches are very good, really firing up the imagination (although the character animation is staggeringly familiar of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin). Shame about the modernisation of issues, as surly teen Jim has some tedious daddy issues and his whole relationship with the cyborg John Silver is schmaltzy and dull.

Once they get to Treasure Planet the film drops the source material and the story suffers because of it. Unfortunately here the comic relief, a robot called B.E.N turns up, and is unwelcome. Due to the structure of the story, B.E.N can't be introduced until very late in the film, but we have no time to learn to love him and he is just nauseating.

Mostly, this is pretty bland. It's enjoyable enough if you don't want to stretch your brain in the slightest, but the harmlessness mixed with the tedious Jim and Silver really don't make it worth watching. What do make it worth watching are Doppler and the Captain. He's very funny, and her British primness in the face of danger is very cool. If only the film had been about them.