I had a very negative reaction to this film when it first came out, thinking that transporting Treasure Island into space was as silly as turning Dangerous Liaisons into a teen melodrama, ala Cruel Intentions. I recently reread the novel and decided to watch a few cinematic treatments of the story. This one ended up standing out from other versions. It is remarkable how close the final film is to the spirit of the novel while scrambling the plot, characters. It is just as an exciting piece of visual entertainment as the novel is of prose. A lot of the choices the script makes-beefing up Silver as a father figure-really land with this setting.
The science fantasy, or scientific romance, elements are all really well done and the visual grandeur is among the most impressive in the Disney canon; the characters, art direction are all memorably alien while being British c. 1750 flavored. Moreover, the change in setting really captures the spirit of exploration and discovery that more literal, period adaptation miss.
Top it all off with David Hyde Pierce at his comedic best, Gordon-Levitt at his most soulful, Brain Murray being utterly charming, sinister the voice work is much better than I remember it being.
The science fantasy, or scientific romance, elements are all really well done and the visual grandeur is among the most impressive in the Disney canon; the characters, art direction are all memorably alien while being British c. 1750 flavored. Moreover, the change in setting really captures the spirit of exploration and discovery that more literal, period adaptation miss.
Top it all off with David Hyde Pierce at his comedic best, Gordon-Levitt at his most soulful, Brain Murray being utterly charming, sinister the voice work is much better than I remember it being.