Treasure Planet

Robert Louis Stevenson goes space opera in this animated kids' feature from Disney. Youthful adventurer Jim Hawkins (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, formerly of TV's 3rd Rock from the Sun) is an aimless space teen who cruises through the air (or lack thereof) on a flying combination of a skateboard and wind-surfboard. He discovers his destiny in a high-tech map to the titular word of treasure and sets off in a galaxy-faring galleon with his guardian, the dog-like Dr. Doppler (David Hyde Pierce). The ship's crew is a diverting cast of intergalactic aliens including the stone-like first mate Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne), the cat-like Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) and the surrogate father-cum-villain-cum-cyborg John Silver (Brian Murray). This film's been taking a critical beating, but, frankly, I found it pretty darn enchanting. It should delight the grade-school set. Plus, it's tough to beat two new tunes by the Goo Goo Dolls' Johnny Rzeznik.