Many of Disney’s films in the 2000s, in the era following the Disney Renaissance of the 90s, failed to win the same acclaim as their predecessors like The Lion King or Mulan. But while there’s little love these days for the likes of Dinosaur, Home on the Range, or Bolt, movies like The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Meet The Robinsons have gone on to become cult classics, due in no small part to the generation who grew up with these films sharing their love on the internet. And 2002’s sci-fi adventure Treasure Planet is no exception to this phenomenon.

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Treasure Planet is the brainchild of Ron Clements and John Musker, the writer-director duo behind such films as The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and more recently The Princess and the Frog and Moana. The idea began as a simple one: an adaptation of the 1883 novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, but with a sci-fi twist. Clements and Musker began pitching the idea to Disney all the way back in the 80s, under the working title Treasure Island in Space. However, their passion project was turned down time and time again, until the film was finally greenlit following the release of Hercules.

The premise of Treasure Planet is about as simple as its working title would suggest — it’s Treasure Island, but in space. Many of the novel’s characters, like Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver, Mr. Arrow, and Captain Flint appear in the film with the same names, albeit reinvented for the sci-fi setting. Just like in the original novel, the film’s plot features young Jim Hawkins receive a map to the lost pirate treasure of Captain Flint from a dying sailor named Billy Bones. Jim embarks on a voyage to find the treasure, serving as the cabin boy on a ship that eventually undergoes a mutiny led by the pirate John Silver. From a purely plot-based standpoint, Treasure Planet is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the novel on which it’s based.

However, much of the appeal of Treasure Planet lies in its visuals. Even after 20 years, the film is an absolute treat for the eyes, combining Disney’s traditional 2D animation at its peak with some inventive use of CGI. But by far the most striking aspect of the movie’s art style is the way it blends spacefaring sci-fi with the Victorian aesthetic of the original Treasure Island. The spaceships are based on sailing vessels, while the cast of weird and wild aliens are all dressed in 19th-century clothes. The pirates’ laser guns are all based on cannons and flintlock pistols. Even Long John Silver, the archetypical peg-legged pirate, is reimagined as a cyborg. The movie’s distinct look is a perfect blend of antiquated and futuristic, giving it a striking and unique style that no other film has managed to replicate.

But while the actual plot of the movie may not be anything special, the actual heart of the story lies in its emotional core — the relationship between Jim and Silver. While the original Long John Silver was a rather two-dimensional villain, Clements and Musker decided to turn their take on Silver into a more nuanced figure: a rarity for Disney antagonists at the time. Likewise, the Jim Hawkins of Treasure Island was a typically heroic young boy, a far cry from the moody teenager of Treasure Planet.

Jim is introduced as a moody teenager who longs for adventure, but is haunted by the shadow of the father who abandoned him. When Jim and Silver first meet on the ship, they butt heads right away. But over the course of the voyage, they begin to bond, and it soon becomes clear that they bring out the best in each other. Of course, their relationship takes a turn for the worse once Silver’s true colors as a vicious pirate are revealed. But in the end, when faced with a choice between claiming Flint’s treasure as his own and rescuing Jim, Silver chooses to save the life of his surrogate son.

To this day, John Silver remains one of the most complex and compelling antagonists in Disney history. He can’t truly be called a villain, for despite his greedy ambitions, he ends up finding redemption through his fatherly relationship with Jim. Underneath all the spectacle and adventure, Treasure Planet is the story of two lost, broken people who learn to become kinder, happier people by finding family in one another.

It’s not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, of course — but then again, what film is? Between its imaginative world, spectacular visuals, and heartwarming story, Treasure Planet has plenty of strengths that make it a voyage worth remembering. If you haven’t seen this sci-fi adventure yet, it’s definitely worth a try.

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