Treasure Planet
Not exactly the most seamless adaptation ever attempted, this animated version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic swashbuckler (now set in outer space, even if the "ships" appear inexplicably unchanged since the 18th century) at least benefited from Disney's always high production standards. Those factors also insure that James Newton Howard's orchestral score is serviceably effervescent and retro enough for the film's storytelling gambit--if still a long way from the heights of Korngold's triumphant, genre-defining music forThe Sea Hawkand other Errol Flynn swashbucklers; call itCaptain Blood-lite. The studio's marketing-driven desire to have it both ways has also awkwardly sandwiched in a couple otherwise pleasant John Rzeznik-penned modern rock tracks, "I'm Still Here," performed by theGoo Goo Dollssinger himself, andBBMak's slightly funkier take of "Always Know Where You Are."--Jerry McCulley