Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has wrapped up and if you’re anything like me, you enjoyed the show for its swashbuckling adventures. It seems that over the course of its eight episodes, the biggest (and most obvious) comparison made was between it and The Goonies, and rightfully so. A group of kids end up on a quest for forgotten pirate treasure. But The Goonies is in the pop-culture lexicon. I wanted to turn our attention to a film that’s been somewhat forgotten since its release. I’m of course talking about Disney’s Treasure Planet, a sci-fi adaptation of the iconic novel Treasure Planet.

Much like the novel it’s based on, Treasure Planet follows the adventures of a young Jim Hawkins, a rebellious teen who’s always dreamed of adventure far away from his provincial town, so to speak. Specifically, he grew up on the tales of the infamous Captain Flint, who made his fame by being able to vanish into thin air and for the hidden planet where he housed all of his loot over the years. It’s all myth of course, right? That is until Billy Bones comes crashing into his life, and before dying, passes Jim a sphere and a warning: “Beware the cyborg”. The sphere was a map to the fabled treasure planet and with the help of Dr. Delbert Doppler, commission a crew of sailors to go search for the planet. One member of that crew just so happens to be a cyborg by the name of John Silver. Double crosses, betrayals, and adventure follow suit.

What makes Treasure Planet unique (and for fans of Skeleton Crew) is its wild mix of futuristic sci-fi with 18th-century foundations. Spaceships are traditional sailing ships, but instead of sailing on the seas, they use solar sails to harness the power of the sun to fly into space. The crew working on the film stated that the visual aesthetic for the film had to meet a 70/30 rule, as they called it, where 70% of the look had to be pulled from our own history, including more than a few pulls from the 2000s X Games era fad, with the other 30% being granted to sci-fi creativity. That old-school pirate vibe mixed with the futuristic tech and general space opera vibes is why I think those who liked the most recent Star Wars show should get a kick out of this one.

The movie also features a pretty impressive voice cast. It stars a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jim, with acclaimed theatre actor Brian Murray lending his voice to John Silver, Emma Thompson as Captain Amelia, David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Doppler, and Martin Short as B.E.N., the robot who was stranded on the titular planet for ages who acts…well, exactly like Martin Short. But it’s Silver who is the best character in the movie and straddles the line between hero and villain quite nicely, and Murray’s pirate drawl helps sell both the menace and the charm to the character.

Treasure Planet has a few interesting facts to its name. It’s the first film to be released by a major studio in traditional cinemas as well as being showcased in IMAX at the same time. Considering traditional animated features were quickly phased out in the early 2000s, it remains the most expensive film of its style to ever be made, even in 2025, with a budget of $140 million in 2002. The film was pretty well received by critics as well, and it even got an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Picture, but unsurprisingly, it lost to Spirited Away. But despite the buzz, the film didn’t really connect with audiences and the film ended up being a box office bomb, bringing in only $109 million. I’m not 100% sure as to why it failed, I was but a wee child when it was released after all, but I would imagine that it may have been too closely associated with the concept of school, considering the source material. There’s also a cast made up of weird creatures, which could have put some kids off from seeing it.

But Treasure Planet has since gone on to garner a passionate but small following. It definitely feels like Disney of yesteryear and I for one miss these kinds of movies. I do think if you enjoyed Skeleton Crew, as I did, you should give this one a go, especially if you missed this the first time or simply forgot all about it.