Treasure Planet

James Pleiades Hawkins has always been fascinated by the stories of Captain Flint, and his legendary treasure.  As a child, the spirit of adventure kept him awake at nights, reading about pirates.

As a teenage, Jim is somewhat disappointed.  Nothing in his life seems to have much purpose.  His father having abandoned them, he and his mother run an inn, the Benbow, and Jim spends his spare time sky-surfing – like windsurfing or skateboarding, with a rocket engine attached to the board.  This search for excitement and bigger thrills often gets him into trouble, especially when he begins breaking into closed and dangerous areas.  It's after one such occasion, when the police have brought him home, that Jim is sitting outside, feeling upset for letting his mother down, but still unable to see a way out of his troubles.  He's there when Billy Bones, an old sailor, crashes nearby.  Dragging him into the warm, Jim, his mother and Dr Doppler, a family friend, are just in time to hear Bones last words ("beware the cyborg") and receive the inheritance of a treasure sphere before pirates desperately searching for said sphere break in and ransack the place.  Jim and the others escape to Doppler's home, where, after fiddling with the treasure sphere, Jim discovers that it's actually a projector that shows the way to Treasure Planet, and Flint's hidden trove.

Excited by this discovery, Dr Doppler commissions a ship and a crew, and he, Jim and the audience are soon introduced to the other main characters of the film; Captain Amelia, first mate Arrow, and, of course, ship's cook, the cyborg Long John Silver.

The relationship between Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins, one of the best parts of the book is kept completely intact here, although slightly more is put in about Jim's absent father, and how much this affects him.  A slight romance element is added, with Doppler and Captain Amelia, although it doesn't detract from the main plot, and somehow, manages not to be tacked on, or forced, and Morph, the being used instead of the traditional parrot (think Pokemon's 'Ditto') is an adorable little bundle of goo, and a welcome addition to the plot.  B.E.N., the robotic equivalent to Ben Gunn can be a tad annoying, but the kids will like him.  Captain Amelia's quick-witted British human is genuinely funny, in a Blackadder kind of way, although it gets very little focus within the film.

Treasure Planet was filmed using 2D characters on 3D, computer animated backgrounds.  Although many aspects of the film look very traditional and old fashioned, certain key elements and slight changes update the look.  As mentioned in the extra features, the animators were going for a seventy percent modern, thirty percent traditional feel, and I'd say they achieved it.

Treasure Planet has a great soundtrack, the two key songs, Always Know Where You Are, and I'm Still Here being performed by the GooGoo Dolls' John Rzeznik.  Seriously, they rock.  I listen to them for fun.  The incidental music in the film deserves a mention, too.  It starts of with a kind of traditional sea-faring sound, then the electric guitars and synthesizers join in, adding a modern feel.

The film contains dozens of little jokes and references, and it works on many levels.  The Flatulan language spoken by one of the characters will make the younger children giggle, while the name of the ship – RLS Legacy – will make the literary fans smile.

The film is funny, in a smiling rather than a laugh out loud kind of way.  It manages to keep the relationship between Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins, one of the most important parts of the film, completely intact.  As it's more a cover version of the story, than a true copy, the slight changes to the script shouldn't annoy people as much as they would in a supposedly more faithful adaptation. 

In summary, I loved this film.  It wasn't well received at the box office, although, later, it was liked by many critics.  Treasure Planet is a great film.  It doesn't have the mature content of films aimed at older age groups, but that doesn't have to be a problem.  It's a film I can watch with my six-year-old cousin, and neither of us will be bored.