Review of Treasure Planet (2002) by Rick B — 09 Apr 2013

What's the best way to ensure your family film is a complete box office disaster? Give it the same opening weekend as a Harry Potter film of course! I didn't see this movie when it first came out, and it's pretty obvious why.

The marketing for it was awful and the idea was unappealing. "Treasure Island in Space?" It just sounds lame. I was going through a completist stage in my life where I wanted to watch every Disney movie, and "Treasure Planet" was next on my list.

I groaned. Not only did I not hate it...I sort of liked it. I sort of really liked it. I didn't love it though. This movie has flaws, don't get me wrong. But it's a movie that has heart, great characters, and a lot of creative imagery.

I've never read Treasure Island and haven't seen any of the movies, so this is my introduction to the material. But I know the story well enough to recognize the space-twists Musker and Clements implement, I think that most of them work (instead of a parrot, Silver has a blob that mimics things and a robotic arm instead of a peg leg).

I'm sure if I was a big fan of the book/films that I'd have a stronger opinion about what got changed, but at the current time, I just don't care. I'm judging it completely on its own.

Made during the time when Disney hand-drawn animation was dying, and I've always thought that was a shame. Hand-drawn animation has a certain warmth and charm, and despite the fact that a lot of the environments and props in Treasure Planet are computer generated, that charm shines through.

The things I liked: The story is tight and fast-paced without feeling rushed. One of my biggest problems with Atlantis: The Lost Empire was that it was episodic and slow at points, then rushed and confusing at others.

Treasure Planet is a well told story, with well-developed characters. Jim and Silver are especially well-developed, and their relationship is the absolute best part of the movie (my favorite part being the "I'm Still Here" music montage).

Also, Morph is just so damn cute. In fact, the whole supporting cast is great, minus a certain robot, which I will discuss later. The score is fantastic, with James Horner in full masterpiece mode as he bangs out one epic, exciting, or emotional orchestration after the other.

Not quite as amazing as Atlantis's score (one of my favorites of all time), but it's still fantastic. The voice acting is top-notch, with Joseph-Gordon Levitt turning in a terrific early performance as Jim.

There's also a lot of witty dialogue (though you have to sift through a lot of bad comedy to find it).Which brings me to the things I didn't like: The goddamn robot. The farting alien. The overuse of 3D backgrounds when 2D backgrounds would have sufficed (and would have actually looked better and cost the studio less money).

Jim's eyes. Actually, his whole damn face, with his disappearing lines under his eyes, which are two perfectly round circles that are way too far apart from each other and swim around his face for the entirety of the movie.

His nose is too far down on his face, so a lot of it is blank. It's such an odd character design. They should have just made him a damn alien. That would have made perfect sense and I'd have less of an issue.

Martin Short annoys the hell out of me as BEN, but he's an integral part of the story so I can't even ignore him. I was also really underwhelmed with a lot of the character designs for the aliens on the ship; they were mostly boring and plain aliens with no big details or standout features that would make them memorable.

And that's a shame considering this is a space adventure and we have to spend a lot of time looking at them. And on top of that, the universe isn't practically built. I'm not saying that the whole "it's the past, but in the future" concept doesn't work overall, but it's just so damn nonsensical when you really think about it.

So I chose not to and just enjoy the gorgeous imagery that it permits, such as a schooner ship sailing away from a supernova and then riding out of the black whole it creates using fiery energy waves.

Yeah, I know. Just go with it. And also, they can breathe in space. Then comes the part I'm most torn on; the animation. Combining 2D and 3D must have been a tremendous undertaking, and I think it works a lot of the time.

But damn, there are some ugly shots in this movie; ugly and gaudy. Why does Silver's kitchen need to be a 3D set? Why do we need that painful POV shot of JIm looking around the cabin? We don't.

It's unnecessary and distracting. Shot of the moon turning into a space station as we get closer? Absolutely incredible, especially combined with Horner's score. It adds a really epic dimension to the film and gives the action scenes a lot of oomph, but it really is a mixed bag.

Take a few lessons from Tarzan, Treasure Planet. How does this film rank as a Disney film? I'd say above average, but not in line with the Renaissance films. It bombed harder than anyone at that studio could have imagined when it premiered and pretty much put the nail in the coffin for 2D Disney movies (for the time being), and that really sucks, because I think it's really good despite its flaws.

They can't all be masterpieces. If a movie manages to wow me more than a few times with certain a combined visual, intellectual, and emotional energy, that makes it a good film in my eyes. Would I even call it great? Hmmm.

.. why don't you just watch it.