"Actor: Austin Majors"

• Treasure Planet (Disney) | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £3.90   |  Saving you £1.60 (41.03%)   |  RRP £5.50

  Disney's next animated feature takes the classic story of 'Treasure Island' and gives it a twenty first century science fiction makeover with alien worlds and other galactic wonders.

• Treasure Planet (Read Along) | DVD | (26/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Treasure Planet, a pet project of Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules codirectors Ron Clements and John Musker, 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 shouldn't distract one 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 space-faring galleons, flintlock ray guns and extreme-sports attitude, it caters to a young audience for whom Stevenson's adventure is an undiscovered treasure, 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