Treasure Planet was one of a few movies that Disney has done that are considered box office bombs. It is a real shame too as Treasure Planet is fantastic. I watched it again recently and it was even better than I remember it being. It is one of those movies that is loved by most who have seen it, but unfortunately, not a lot of people actually made the effort to see it.
How to Download Treasure Planet
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like Disney films, check out also our reviews of The Tigger Movie, Teacher’s Pet, or Chicken Little.
The Movie Review
It is written and directed by the team of John Musker and Ron Clements and it is quite clever what they have done here. They have taken the classic story, Treasure Island, and put a sci-fi twist to it and they pull it off amazingly well. After my recent re-watch, I came to the conclusion that this would be an awesome movie for Disney to give the live-action remake treatment to.
As I said, this is a reimagining of the story of Treasure Island. Our main character is a teenager called Jim Hawkins. Jim grew up idolizing the adventures of Captain Flint, a daring space pirate and he dreamed of being a space pirate himself. However, his father leaves never comes back and as a result, his life starts to go down the wrong path. His mother tries her best, but Jim is just a lost soul.
One day while out causing trouble, Jim comes across a crashed spacecraft and the pilot inside gives him a sphere and warns him about someone called “the cyborg”. Jim takes the sphere to his mother and their friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler where they discover the sphere is a map to the fabled Treasure Planet!
A group of space pirates come looking for this sphere/map and destroy Jim’s mother’s inn. Jim and Delbert end up deciding to go and find this Treasure Planet themselves and start to plan their expedition. Now, you cannot have an expedition without a crew and they hire a rag-tag crew to take them on their adventure.
One of the other main characters is the cook, John Silver. John Silver takes a liking to Jim and the two bond, but if you know the name John Silver, you know he is more than just a cook. We end up going on a wild, crazy, and fantastic adventure through the stars as they try to find this planet all the while avoiding the dangers of space and space pirates along the way.
We have a great cast in Treasure Planet. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Hyde Pearce, and Brian Murray are the main cast. However, we have the likes of Emma Thompson, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Martin Short as well so it is a stacked cast. Along with the great voice acting, the music and score in general are fantastic too.
I love the way that Treasure Planet looks. Disney was quite experimental with this and what we have is a mixture of CG and traditional animation. Granted some of the CG has aged a bit, but I feel this adds to the charm of the movie and gives it a style that is unlike any other Disney movie. Of course, this “style” can be polarizing and I could respect someone’s opinion that they do not like it.
Overall, I would have to say that I think Treasure Planet is a fantastic movie. From start to end, it is entertaining, has interesting characters and you actually care about what is happening. If I were to make a list of the most underrated Disney movies of all time, Treasure Planet would feature pretty high on that list.
