The Media Man Reviews: Treasure Planet

Has there ever been a time where you feel sorry for a movie because of how badly it flopped? In my case, this is one of those movies.

Treasure Planet is a Disney movie directed by the famed Disney duo, John Musker and Ron Clements, the same guys responsible for directing other Disney classics such as Basil the Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid and Moana. Released in 2002, this movie was a big passion project of theirs and they had to do several jobs before they could finally work on it. And...it didn't end well for them. Treasure Planet is the biggest box office bomb in Disney history, earning a measly $109 million against a $140 million budget. The reason it bombed so hard was because of waning interest in traditionally animated films with the rise of CGI during the early 2000's, Executive Meddling and also the fact that some idiot thought releasing this movie between the releases of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Die Another Day and Gangs of New York wouldn't backfire on them. Jiminy Crickets, fancy putting your movie up against THOSE films! I'd crap my pants if I had to compete against a Harry Potter sequel, a James Bond movie and a Lord of the Rings sequel! No wonder this movie couldn't hope to be a success!

The film was planned to be a potential franchise going forward with even a sequel in the works, but that all went down the toilet when the movie bombed as heavily as it did. It's such a shame too as again, this was Musker and Clements's big passion project, and it failed as miserably as it did because Disney just picked the worst time in the history of bad timings to release it. Had they released it before those other movies, it might not have bombed so hard. As a result, this movie's more known for being Disney's biggest bomb than anything else, which in a weird way is why it's so remembered. The film has also gained a cult following in recent years with many fans considering it one of Disney's underrated gems.

As for me? I did watch the movie back when I was a kid...only once and then never watched it again. Heck, I have more vivid memories of watching the commercials for its McDonald's toys than the movie itself! I don't know it just never left any impact on me growing up. It took until only recently for me to watch the movie again. So is this a rare piece of treasure worth digging up? Or were the crew at Disney stark raving totally blinking daft for making this movie?

Let's follow the map to Treasure Planet and find out...

Section 1: The Story

I can describe the plot with this single sentence:

It's Treasure Island...

IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!

No joke, that is LITERALLY what the story of this movie is. You take the story of the original tale by Robert Louis Stevenson and give it a sci-fi twist, therefore you get this plot. And unfortunately, I say that like it's a bad thing. You see, this movie is a case of "What you see is what you get". It's Treasure Island in space, therefore making the plot super-predictable from top-to-bottom. The film follows the plot of Treasure Island note-for-note with no twists and turns on the story whatsoever. If you've seen or read Treasure Island, then you've seen this movie is what I'm saying. Literally the only reason this adaptation has any form of identity at all is the sci-fi twist on the story. Take that out and you're stuck with a very barebones, cookie-cutter Treasure Island adaptation. This in turn makes the movie rather uninteresting to watch as a result because you know where the story is going and how the character arcs will play out. All I can do is just sit there thinking "Ah, we're on that bit of the story", and so on as the movie unfolds. You'd think with this being "Treasure Island in Space", they'd get a little more creative with the story.

That said, the sci-fi twist, while gimmicky, does make this a unique way to tell the story of Treasure Island and they do make the story fit surprisingly well into the sci-fi genre without changing the plot too drastically. The ships, while still galleon themed, are spaceships, they travel through space instead of the ocean, the treasure map is a hi-tech gadget instead of a traditional map, Long John Silver is a cyborg instead of a one-legged man, guns fire lasers instead of bullets and there's aliens galore to be seen throughout. All of these ideas make perfect sense (minus the spaceships looking like galleons, but more on that later) for a sci-fi twist on Treasure Island and it makes the idea a lot more credible as a result. We're promised sci-fi Treasure Island and that's what we get with this movie. And despite me saying this is to the movie's detriment, I will give it points for being a very faithful adaptation of Treasure Island. The story doesn't deviate from the source material much and stays true to the original book, even with the sci-fi twist on the tale, so I imagine fans of the book may appreciate this for being a faithful adaptation of the famous Robert Louis Stevenson novel.

The sci-fi setting also allows the movie to get creative with its action scenes and give us action that we otherwise wouldn't get in any other adaptation of Treasure Island. From a close call with a supernova to flying across an exploding planet, there's some real cool stuff to see here and it looks really awesome. The key to success in any Treasure Island adaptation is making the journey to the destination exciting to watch, and this movie certainly succeeds in that regard. It's why despite being such a generic Treasure Island adaptation, the sci-fi setting does help this movie forge its own identity as an adaptation and it stands out from the others as a result. The setting allows the movie to do things that other adaptations couldn't do, showing that the writers and animators were at least able to take advantage of the idea and thus the sci-fi twist doesn't feel like being gimmicky for the sake of it.

And despite how predictable the story is due to following the plot of Treasure Island to a tee, there's still some good stuff to gain from it. The heart of the story lies within the bond between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver. Those two have always had an interesting history together in the original story and its many adaptations and I like this movie's take on the matter. This version of Jim Hawkins has severe daddy issues due to his father just up and leaving for no discernable reason one day and Silver takes a shine to Jim as they spend more time together. This gives us to one of the film's best scenes when Silver gives his famous "You've got the makings of greatness in ya" speech. I don't blame fans for feeling inspired and uplifted by his words here, it is a lovely speech, and it can inspire others to keep on trying no matter what. We all have the makings of greatness in us after all and we'll all get our moments to realize them in due time.

As is, the plot does have some issues with it outside of its predictability. One thing that puzzles me is that there's a scene where Captain Amelia seems to be going delirious because of her injury or maybe she's getting ill or something. Yet next time we see her, she's completely fine, having recovered offscreen. What was the point of that moment? Even Jim Hawkins seems to realize how pointless it was, because he goes off to get the map back and the thought of getting some medication for Captain Amelia never crosses his mind after the scene is over. Was there meant to be a subplot of him getting a cure for the captain that was left over from an older draft or something and they just forgot to remove it when they got to the final script? It's so weird.

The film also should've characterized Mr. Arrow some more before he got killed off. His death just rings hollow as a result of what little character he has and everybody gets over it pretty quickly, thus making his death feel like it's obligated to happen because of the source material more than anything.

And finally, I feel the movie tries too hard to pander to kids at times. You have Morph who really does feel like he only exists just to be the Kid Appeal Character and you have juvenile jokes like that slug alien who literally communicates with fart noises. I wish I was making that up. I get that it's a Disney movie, but I remind you, DISNEY ALREADY ADAPATED TREASURE ISLAND BACK WHEN WALT DISNEY WAS ALIVE! They did a live-action adaptation starting Bobby Driscoll and Robert Newton and they didn't feel the need to have a farting alien in it to appeal to the kids! I have the feeling those moments were executive meddling cause I'm sure even Clements and Musker didn't want to include those elements in the movie. On that topic, I feel the humour as a whole is the weakest aspect of the movie. Anytime it tries to be funny, it comes off as childish or tonally inconsistent and it doesn't really work for the most part. Not saying every joke is bad or anything, just that Disney has handled humour better in most of their other movies compared to this.

Treasure Planet is not bad by any means. It's a faithful adaptation of the story that tells the original tale in a new way with its sci-fi twist on the novel, the action scenes are exciting to watch and the bond between Jim and Silver is as complex and interesting as ever. It's just the film is too faithful to the point the movie is too predictable to be enjoyable, the humour is very hit and miss and there's moments in the story that don't add up or fall flat because of weak characterizations. If they'd been more creative with this new take on the story, it could've been more interesting to watch as a result...

Section 2: The Characters

These are characters that everybody knows from the original story, and the movie does give us decent new takes on these classic characters.

Of course, we have our main protagonist as usual, Jim Hawkins (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). This version of Jim is characterized closer to a "modern" teenager than the usual Jim Hawkins from the book, which is fine enough as this is a Treasure Island adaptation for a more modern audience. Depicting him as someone who loves extreme sports does make him relatable to modern audiences, even if it might come off as Disney trying to look "cool" which I imagine some might roll their eyes at. However, Jim is a relatable protagonist for everybody due to his troubled upbringing as a result of his father just abandoning him and his mother when he was young. Lots of kids act out because of parent issues, so it's a very real struggle for Jim and it adds into why he has this complex relationship with Silver. Maybe he started seeing Silver as the father he never had, which only makes it hurt more when he realizes he's actually a bad guy. Jim also has a desire to do things right and make his mother proud, which is something else we can relate to. How many of us have had a desire to make things right for our family? Many, I'm sure. This version of Jim Hawkins was well-handled. They didn't make him overly edgy or cool for the kids, they made him relatable and gave him a neat character arc that he sees to the end. Probably one of the best versions of the character to date.

Another character given a great update here is Long John Silver (voiced by the late Brian Murray). Depicted here as a cyborg instead of a one-legged man, Silver is shown as a fearsome pirate whose own crew trembles with fear the moment he loses his cool, which is how the famous anti-villain should be depicted. As is, this Long John Silver does have more of a softer side to him which comes out whenever he's with Jim Hawkins. Scroop is right to say that he has a soft spot for the boy and it's clear to see when he ends up choosing Jim over the treasure in the climax. He was a compelling villain throughout the movie and a complex character, as Silver should be. The only thing that bothers me about him is Brain Murray's voice. I don't know, it's just the weird accent he uses, and his voice doesn't sound particularly villainous to me. Then again, he IS putting up an act so he shouldn't sound very evil, but then when his true colours are revealed, it's still hard to take him seriously because of how odd he sounds. If he had a different accent and a deeper voice maybe, it would've worked better.

Jim and Silver get the lion's character of development here while the rest aren't as developed or as characterized by comparison. We have Dr. Doppler (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) who is Jim's friend and the astronomer of the group, there's Captain Amelia (voiced by Emma Thompson) who is a gender-flipped Captain Smollet and is a sharp-witted cat lady who seems like a kickass lady but gets sidelined during the climax just so the boys can have all the fun and there's Mr. Arrow (voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne) who is just the loyal first mate who dies without getting much characterization to him. Doppler and Amelia get the funniest scenes in the movie due to their funny banter together and the great voice-acting on them both, but the two then end up having this out-of-nowhere romance between them that I don't buy for a minute. It feels like it only happens because we have a man and a woman together so...got to pair them up I guess. That was unnecessary and everyone knows it.

We also have B.E.N. (voiced by Martin Short), who is essentially Ben Gunn from the original novel, but as a robot. He's another unnecessary comic relief character who's not even funny to begin with. His entire schtick is that he SHOUTS AT RANDOM and acts crazy due to his MISSING MEMORIES! Sorry to disappoint Disney, but SHOUTING YOUR LINES AT TIMES does not make your COMIC RELIEF ANY FUNNIER!!!

And then there's Silver's crew in where they're just generic mooks without much to them, except for Scroop (voiced by Michael Wincott). He's the murder happy member of the crew who seems set up to be this Starscream style traitor to the team, but he doesn't get many lines and is killed off before he even gets to the climax, making it feel like a waste as a result. I get it, he's essentially Israel Hands from the novel and he dies before the climax too, but that doesn't mean they had to do the same with Scroop. They could've kept him around and had him take part in the climax in where he could serve as the true final boss for Jim and even Silver to take on.

As I mentioned earlier, Morph (voiced by Dane Davis) feels like he's just there to appeal to kids because he's a cute alien thing that can shapeshift. To me, he comes off as the Disney version of Ditto from Pokémon. His shape-shifting gimmick can be amusing at times, I'll admit, but the movie really didn't need him in my eyes.

If there's any character I WISH got more screen time in this movie, it's Jim's mother Sarah Hawkins (voiced by Laurie Metcalf). Being an overworked, struggling single mother, I found her to be the most sympathetic character in the movie and would've loved to have seen more of her. Instead, she's basically out of the plot until the end of the movie. Ah well, it's probably for the best as it might've been difficult juggling her with all the other characters in the movie.

Jim and Silver are great, the rest of the cast...not so much. At least they got the two most important characters in the movie right, and that's all you really need for a Treasure Island adaptation.

Section 3: The Animation

Now for the thing that makes this Treasure Island movie stand out from the others: its visuals.

Treasure Planet is certainly not the first adaptation of Treasure Island to be animated, we've had other versions that are decidedly even more obscure than this one. But of all the animated Treasure Island adaptations, this by far has the best-looking animation since, you know, it's Disney and all, and the visuals make this one of the most unique looking adaptations of the story.

As this is a Disney movie from the early 2000's, naturally the visuals are still hand-drawn with some CGI elements in them. Surprisingly, they managed to blend the two mediums together quite well. Yes, you can still tell what's CGI and what isn't at times, but the CGI doesn't stand out like a sore thumb or look out of place with the hand-drawn visuals is what I'm saying. The best example I can give is Long John Silver. He's a hand-drawn character with a CGI limb, in this case his robot arm, and the two blend together SEAMLESSLY. You'd think the robot arm wouldn't look right against a hand-drawn body, yet it does and it's quite a feat of animation. Even B.E.N., despite being a CGI character, doesn't look out of place among the hand-drawn cast and even manages to look like a hand-drawn character himself with his design and all. Disney is always great at pushing the boundaries of what animation can do after all. As is, not all the CGI blends in well and as the movie continues to age, the CGI will continue to age. The CGI on the ships is pretty obvious for example, but it doesn't look too bad at least.

The character designs are an interesting bunch to go over. With this being "Treasure Island in Space", they take advantage of the concept by having a variety of different species on screen. We have humans, of course, but some characters are aliens ranging in all shapes and sizes. It's like watching a Star Wars movie but depicted by Disney animators (ironic considering Disney owns Star Wars now). The aliens also have mostly an animal theme going on with them. Dr. Doppler has dog-like features, Captain Amelia is literally a cat lady, Scroop looks like a spider mixed with a scorpion, Billy Bones looks like a turtle and even Long John Silver has design elements from a bear in his appearance. Not all the aliens are animal themed, some are more "alien looking" if you get my meaning. One example I can give is this alien who is essentially a sentient head and a body that can go together to make one guy. Mr. Arrow also lacks an animal theme, instead looking like a huge rock monster or golem creature with his exaggeratedly broad design and stony skin. All this emphasizes how this movie takes place in a wide-ranging galaxy with all kinds of aliens to see and it means we always have something interesting to look at in this movie.

The character animation is very crisp and full of creative little touches that takes advantage of what the animators are working with. There's one bit where Doppler tries Silver's cooking and he laps at it the same way a pet dog would lap at its water bowl, which makes sense as he's based on a dog. You also have Captain Amelia being depicted as slick and agile when in action like an actual cat and there's a subtle touch at one point where she looks at the treasure map and her pupils grow large for a moment, kinda like what an actual cat would do when playing with a ball or seeing something shiny. Morph is also a lot of fun to watch too with his shape-shifting tricks and we see him, well, morph into a lot of things in this movie, be it person or object. And of course, the animation on Silver is the shining example of great character animation. Having a hand-drawn character with a CGI limb is no easy feat, but the animators pulled it off and it's quite a marvel to watch. I love how creative the animators got with Silver's robot arm too with the various tools he has at his disposal and how it transforms into various things. We see it as an arm cannon, a sword, kitchen utensils, a crutch and more.

The amazing visuals look their best during the action scenes. The animators really knew how to make them exciting to watch and look like a chaotic scene where anyone can die. The close call with the supernova and the exploding planet during the climax are the visual highlights for me. They're well-executed and make the situation look as perilous and intense as possible. As is, if there's anything I wish the animation could've done more of, it's giving us intense fight scenes. While the action is great in terms of the environment being dangerous to our heroes, we don't really get a lot of characters fighting each other, which is odd considering this is a pirate movie. You'd expect to see more characters sword-fighting and swashbuckling with each other. Instead, we don't really get those kinds of fights, thus making it feel as if the movie's playing it a bit safe despite being a Treasure Island adaptation.

And while we're on that subject, this is where the visuals get puzzling for me. With this being based on Treasure Island, the characters for the most part are given 19th century style clothing, making them look as if they're suited to that kind of century. But then you factor in that this is a sci-fi world with aliens and spaceships and futuristic tech, so the 19th century outfits come off as weird as a result. And if you think the two genres clash together because of it, the design of the ships is even worse. These are spaceships, right? So why do they look like old 19th century galleons that sail on the sea? Shouldn't they look like spaceships? I mean, what practical use do tall masts and sails have on a SPACESHIP? There's no reason for them to look like this other than "it's Treasure Island, so they have to look like pirate ships". They should've gone all out with this being a sci-fi Treasure Island movie and given us creative looking spaceships instead of making them look like galleons. Another thing that puzzles me is how this is a futuristic world with laser guns and all that, yet Silver's cyborg arm can transform into a sword. Like...what purpose does a SWORD have in this world? Why would anyone still have swords when they've got laser guns now? It just gives us this mix of two genres that don't really mix as a result. There are some things that make sense in the context of this movie though. The treasure map being a holographic projector especially was a logical idea and made perfect sense.

So yeah, the visuals have things that don't make sense in them and the CGI does look dated in places, but that doesn't take away how this is visually one of the most impressive looking Disney films ever animated. This movie at least deserves to be hailed in the history books for its groundbreaking, innovative animation and shouldn't just be remembered for being a huge bomb, because this animation deserves to be credited for how brilliant it is...

Overall

Treasure Planet certainly didn't deserve to flop as badly as it did. At the same time, I see why it's one of Disney's lesser-known movies. The story is too faithful to the source material for its own good, the characters are a mixed bunch, the sci-fi twist is all it really has going for it to forge its own identity, and it suffers from trying too hard to cater to both sides of the audience at times. It is saved from being a bad movie by at least telling Treasure Island in a new way, the visuals are amazing and the bond between Jim and Silver is an emotional highlight. If you're a fan of Treasure Island, you may find this an interesting watch, especially as a new way to tell the story. If this movie introduced you to Treasure Island, then I'd say it's a good first impression of the story. So while I wouldn't say this is one of my favourite Disney movies ever, I still say it's worth checking out just for the sheer novelty of "Treasure Island in Space" alone. Don't go in expecting a Disney classic, go in expecting a good adaptation of Treasure Island with some wonderful Disney animation to bring it to life...

And that's all I have for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your comments down below. Did you like Treasure Planet? Do you think its underrated? Do you think it deserved to bomb? Feel free to tell me your thoughts.

Next week, I'll be doing a two-part essay where I re-write Pokémon Horizons Season 3. See you then media fans!