A fresh take on the Treasure Island book by Robert Louis Stevenson, this television mini-series boasts high production values, a stellar cast, and an awful lot of fun. It also remains quite faithful to the source material, whilst managing to carve out an identity of its own. Inevitably, the changes that it does make won’t be liked by everyone, but they’re very much in the spirit of the production.

It’s best to start with the wonderful cast. Take Eddie Izzard’s excellent, screen-gobbling take on Long John Silver. He’s in spectacular form here, joined by the likes of Elijah Wood, Philip Glenister and Donald Sutherland. And in the midst of those names is Toby Regbo, in the pivotal role of Jim Hawkins. The cast are clearly having a ball with the material, and the fun is infectious.

This Treasure Island is pitched nicely at a family audience, too, with good action, strong production design and a broad appeal. It’s far from the definitive telling of the tale, but then it doesn’t have ambitions to be. Yet you get far more from it than you’d ordinarily expect from a television mini-series, and the sheer glee of watching Eddie Izzard on top of his game is something to be cherished. Good, solid fun on a good, solid disc. --Jon Foster