[6]

Disney Animation puts a science-fiction twist on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story. The mix of 2D and 3D animation is interesting, especially when you stop to marvel at an animator’s mastery of perspective when 2D characters are seen running through 3D environments while the ‘camera’ moves all around them. The overall design of Treasure Planet is incoherent, though — you never see two of the same kind of alien, and we don’t see enough of any environment for it to leave much of an impression. As a result, the movie’s an aesthetic hodge podge. What redeems the movie is the slightly sophisticated relationship between young Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and John Silver (Brian Murray), which begins sweet but takes some dark turns. The voice talents of Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce, and Martin Short are put to good use, as is Goo Goo Dolls singer Johnny Rzeznik, who contributes two nice songs to the film. And I guess I’m a sucker for cute things, cause I adore the little purple Morph character.

Oscar Nomination: Best Animated Feature