365 Days. 365 Films.

This is a Disney film that passed me by; I had never heard of it until I read about it online while researching what films I should watch. Because I hadn’t heard about it I assumed it would be terrible, but it wasn’t and I really don’t know why I have never heard of it before. Firstly, there is a brilliant cast including Emma Thompson, Martin Short and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and secondly, it’s really, genuinely funny.

It’s a typical Disney plot with a name like Treasure Planet – there is a planet with treasure on it, and a young boy stumbles across a sphere which turns into a map when opened correctly. Jim (Gordon-Levitt) teams up with his mother’s friend, a doctor and astronomer, and they hire a boat to travel across the galaxy (I don’t know why they use ships and not space shuttles or something). The crew members, however, are a group of pirates hungry for the treasure too. And when they reach the planet, the pirates’ intentions become clear and the race is on to find the treasure first.

It’s an odd film, especially for Disney; before Wall-E I don’t think I had ever seen a futuristic Disney Classic, but this is stranger than Wall-E because of the aliens and the strong fantasy element. Besides this slightly off-putting theme, it’s hilarious, well directed and beautifully animated. It’s a real hidden treasure!