I didn't catch Treasure Planet in the theaters. In fact, I can remember thinking it looked rather dumb at the time. But shortly after its initial run, my future Mother-in-law got the DVD for me for Christmas one year, and after putting it off for a while, I finally sat down and watched it.
Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it! Not only did it never occur to me before (for some reason) that it was an updated version of Treasure Island, but it was a more-entertaining version of that story than I had ever seen before (which at the time meant I liked it better than Muppet Treasure Island, which I do enjoy, just not as much. I have since then read the book and seen the 1950 Disney Classic version, both amazing).
But the thing that really made me a fan of Treasure Planet was its portrayal of Long John Silver. Not only was he mean and scary at times, but he also had a much softer side that really made you understand why he and "Jimbo" became good friends. His character design was amazing as well. It was a stroke of genius to make him a cyborg instead of a one-legged man. It gave him that scary Terminator feel when it needed to be there.
There were a few parts that I wasn't the biggest fan of, though. Now I am a fan of Martin Short, but for some reason the way he played B.E.N. was just a bit on the annoying side. You can definitely tell he was supposed to be the comic relief, but I think Mr. Short was trying just a bit too hard to be crazy. Also, they seemed to kind of force a romance between Dr. Doppler (who I really enjoyed as an amalgam of Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey) and Captain Amelia.
But, all those nit-picks aside, Treasure Planet may not have been the most successful movie for Disney, but It certainly is worthy to be in the canon, and X marks the spot at #10 on my list.
