Review by Robert Waldman

Ahoy Mates! Set your sails to Vancouver's Tinseltown (Free parking on Pender), Colossus, or any Famous Players Silver City cite to take in Treasure Planet, the latest animated treat from Walt Disney Pictures. No one does it better than Disney when it comes to childhood adventure and sheer imagination. Mind you, having the classis Robert Louis Stevenson story Treasure Island as a convenient jumping-off point simply adds to the appeal of this joyous event.

Set in the future, our tail begins at the bedside of young Jim Hawkins. Raised by Sarah, Jim's loving mom Jim the boy shares an active imagination from an earlier age. An avid reader from the start, as Jim reaches his teen years he becomes schooled in building space-age scooters. With that edge for excitement comes frequent encounters with the local law.

Quite by chance some alien beings land on the Hawkins' doorstep which sets the stage for Jim to break out of his cloistered surrounds and head straight for the galaxies. Through a portal Jim goes and quite by magic he winds up inside a tale of pirates from his childhood reading.

In space Jim meets up with a majestic ship led a Captain Amelia, a commander with distinct feline characteristics. Also accompanying Jim on his pan-galactic odyssey is his mother's friend Doctor Doppler, a scientific type who also yearns for the treasure that may just lie beyond the horizon.

Also in search of hidden loot are most of the ship's crew, led by the one-armed John Silver. Aboard the flying ship Jim encounters lots of close calls with both mother nature and the restless crew as the journey turns into a Battle Royale for a quest for untold riches that legend would have them believe is sheltered at a mysterious island.

Stunning visual effects and a believable hero make Treasure Planet eye-popping fun for those into colourful lands of make-believe. Ace voice work including Brian Murray (City Hall) as John Silver, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Dark Shadows) in the role of Jim, Emma Thompson (Howard's End) purring as Captain Amelia and David Hyde Pierce (Osmosis Jones) voicing the nervous Nellie Doctor Doppler simply adds to the film's lively character. Canadian Martin Short (Mars Attacks) further enlivens the proceedings as wacky robot protector who goes by the name of B.E.N.

"Far-fetched and fun" sums up Treasure Planet, a joy-filled imaginative animation adventure for both young and old.

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