Disney seems to have spent the last couple of years trying to renew their formula for making brilliant animated feature films. Their fairytale song-and-dance thing got a little outdated, and other companies, most notably Dreamworks, have moved into Disney’s field. “Treasure Planet” is clearly one of those films where they tried to do things differently.

It about a adolescent boy who lives in a world where galaxies can be sailed like oceans in ships that look like the ones we had on earth in 17th century. This results in a clever mix of a sci-fi and a pirate story when he finds a map containing the location of a treasure, and sets off to find it.

The story is basically the same as in other Disney movies. There’s always some kid who’s out of place (Tarzan, Hercules, Stitch), goes on some adventure, and gets accepted in the end. The same goes here. The distinction between good and evil is a little more clouded than usual, which really helps the story. Another thing that’s typical for a Disney movie is the high quality of the animation. The entire movie looks great. Look out for the space whales at the start of the journey.

Although the physics behind the whole “sailing the universe” thing are questionable to say the least, it does make for great images and a creative story. How often do you see a story with both robots and pirates? I could live with the fact that no explanation was offered why they could breath in outer space, yet there was no wind blowing over the deck. Even though they must have been travelling at very high speeds.

My main objection (as an adult) is that the story is a little too simple and the movie’s a little too short. This is probably great for kid though. Rated ***3/4 (out of 5).

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