Grade: B

Verdict: The film successfully updates Stevenson's adventure, but it falls short of being a true treasure.

Details: Directed by John Musker, Ron Clements. Starring the voices of Brian Murray, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce. 95 minutes. Rated PG for adventure action and peril.

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Review: The 18th century meets the final frontier in Treasure Planet, a sci-fi fantasy update of Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure novel. In Disney’s animated version of the classic tale, which has been filmed more than 30 times, galleons sail through space on solar rays and robotic prosthetics take the place of peg legs and hooks.

The clever adaptation by writer-directors John Musker and Ron Clements, whose credits include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules, transforms Stevenson’s yarn into a futuristic space opera, while staying true to the original story. The ocean is now outer space, but sailing vessels and other such period elements hold fast to seafaring times.

Treasure Planet is something of a hybrid itself, combining traditional hand-drawn animation with computer-generated backdrops and components, including pirate John Silver’s mechanical arm, leg and eye.

Visually, it ranks among the best of Disney’s animated features. However, the screenplay by Musker and Clements isn’t as captivating as the film’s stellar visuals.

A narrated virtual storybook recounts the tale of notorious space pirate Captain Flint and his legendary treasure, “the loot of a thousand worlds,” which is said to be hidden at the far reaches of the galaxy.

Twelve years later, the young lad fixated by that story, Jim Hawkins (the voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt), has grown up to become a troubled 15-year-old. Abandoned by his father, Jim lives with his mother (Laurie Metcalf), who struggles to run the Benbow Inn.

Jim’s life takes a dramatic turn when a space cruiser crashes near the inn. A crazed alien named Billy Bones (Patrick McGoohan) crawls from the wreckage and with his dying breath gives Jim a strange metal sphere and a warning: “Beware the villainous cyborg and his band of cutthroats.”

The sphere is a 3-D holographic map to Flint’s fabled treasure and the pirates of which Bones spoke aren’t far behind. In search of the map, they ransack the inn and burn it to the ground. Determined to help his mother rebuild, Jim goes in search of the treasure with a family friend, canine astrophysicist Dr. Delbert Doppler (David Hyde Pierce).

Doppler books them passage on a ship, under the command of the feline Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) and her rock-solid first mate Mr. Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne). He also hires a crew, led by the charismatic cyborg cook John Silver (Brian Murray).

Assigned to the galley, Jim bonds with Silver, who becomes a surrogate father figure. But Silver and his alien gang plan to commit mutiny and take the treasure for themselves.

Treasure Planet is a fun and exciting family adventure, although its listless script lacks the humor and heart of Disney’s classic ’toons.

The biggest laugh for kids is a tuberous pirate who speaks in “flatula,” which sounds like he is rudely breaking wind. Morph, an adorable shape-shifting creature who takes the place of Silver’s parrot, will also be a hit with youngsters.

Martin Short provides manic comic relief as the voice of B.E.N. — short for Bio-Electronic Navigator — a rickety marooned robot who literally has lost his mind.

Michael Wincott lends his deep, menacing tones to Scroop, a spider-like pirate who may frighten younger viewers, particularly in a sequence that recalls the original Alien.

The film successfully updates Stevenson’s adventure for the 21st-century by combining the best of worlds old and new, but it falls short of being a true treasure.

— By Dave Larsen, Cox News Service