Although the film attempts to combine swashbuckling adventure, comedic sight gags, and mild romance, these elements never quite fuse into a captivating epic. The destiny of troublesome teen Jim Hawkins unfolds when he inadvertently obtains a treasure map of a fabled island (or planet, in this case). Kindly benefactor Dr. Doppler intervenes to finance the voyage aboard the Hispaniola, where Jim befriends the ship’s unsavory half-cyborg cook, Long John Silver. Following Silver’s lead the ship’s unscrupulous alien crew mutinies against their stalwart Captain Amelia and hijacks the vessel in the hope of plundering the legendary treasure. For the most part producer/director duo Ron Clements and John Musker have remained faithful to the basic events in Stevenson’s text, but with the exception of a couple eye-catching action sequences, there’s not enough meat to keep the viewer chomping at the bone.

The concept of staging Treasure Island in space is unique in itself and the Disney animators have devised some interesting reinterpretations of familiar characters but the story never ascends beyond the doldrums of most animated television fare. Third Rock From The Sun staple Joseph Gordon-Levitt is passable as the angst ridden Jim Hawkins and Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce turns in some light-hearted moments as Dr. Doppler, but veteran stage actor Brian Murray lacks the necessary vocal ballast to make Silver a memorable villain. The ever-frenetic Martin Short elicits a few laughs as the robot version of marooned castaway B.E.N. (the bio-electronic navigator who holds the secret to Treasure Planet’s riches). The most effective choice of casting is undoubtedly that of Emma Thompson who lends her voice to Captain Amelia with delicious zeal. Thompson’s performance as the feline alien commander is punctuated by sly ad-libs and a lion-hearted confidence that would out-rank any Catwoman incarnation.