Disney Movie Challenge
Treasure Planet (2002)
Directors Ron Clements and John Musker have had a long career at Disney. The first film they directed for Disney was The Great Mouse Detective. After that they pitched two films to Disney head Jeffrey Katzenberg The Little Mermaid and Treasure Planet. While both films were initially rejected, The Little Mermaid would end up being a huge success and Clements and Musker would go on to direct Aladdin and Hercules. But they never gave up on doing Treasure Planet and when the studio wanted them to make Hercules they put in their contract a guarantee that Disney would let them make Treasure Planet. Eventually in 2002 they got to release the film and it turned out that maybe the studio was right as it became one of Disney’s largest box office flops.
The movie is a retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic “Treasure Island” in space. I have never read or seen any of the other versions so I don’t know what was changed. The movie follows Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a teenager with a thirst for adventure. He loved listening to stories as a kid about pirate adventures and one day he gets his chance to go on his own adventure when a map to treasure planet ends up in his hands. His friend Doctor Doppler is also intrigued and hires a captain and crew. Unbeknownst to them the crew they hired is made up of pirates who are trying to get their hands on the map also. Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) knows there is something not right with the crew and tells them to hide the map. Jim is told to work in the Galley with Mr. Silver (Brian Murray). After a rocky start they seem to form a bond and Jim begins to mature and learn. When it’s revealed that Mr. Silver is a pirate and leads the mutiny, Jim begins to question everything Mr. Silver taught him. After they make it to treasure planet a race breaks out who can find the treasure first.
Treasure Planet is one of the most expensive animated films ever made. This was because they ended up using multiple kinds of animation to make the film. They had traditional hand drawn animation, CGI animation, and 3D animation using “Deep Canvas” created for Tarzan. There are times when all are on screen at the same time. One of the biggest uses of CGI was Mr. Silver’s robotic arm and leg. To see how CGI would look on top of traditional animation they did a test using Captain Hook from Peter Pan. Here is a small clip from the tests. Watching the movie you don’t notice anything and everything looks pretty flawless. The visuals are pretty stunning.
It’s disappointing that the movie bombed because it’s not a bad movie. I think it was the weird sci-fi element that didn’t click with people. I think people found it hard to believe people would just be sailing around space in open boats with no helmets on. But if you can get past that the story is mostly fun. The voice acting is pretty great. I loved Emma Thompson as Captain Amelia. The biggest issue I had was when Martin Short’s character of B.E.N. was introduced. While I love Martin Short he was a little too much Martin Short. I found the character pretty annoying and it kind of took me out of the film.
I also think some of the emotional arcs the characters go through just didn’t work right. It was kind of confusing how we are supposed to feel about Mr. Silver. We get hints early on that he is a bad guy but then he is a good guy, but then bad guy again and then good guy. The movie never really gives a good reason why Jim would forgive him at the end. There is also a weird love story between Captain Amelia and Dr. Doppler that just pops up out of nowhere. I think if they had ironed out some of the characters better maybe the film would have found more of an audience.
Overall: Not a bad movie. The animation looked great and integrated all animation aspects pretty brilliantly. Unfortunately the story just didn’t resonate with an audience. Not sure if it’s just people don’t like Disney Sci-Fi (Atlantis: The Lost Empire also flopped), or just the characters weren’t interesting enough. Also a random Goo Goo Dolls song pops up and that kind of took me out of the movie also.
Random Facts
Along with Lilo and Stitch, the first Disney Animated Films to be nominated for Best Animated Features at the Oscars, both lost to Spirited Away. This was only the second year that category existed. The first year no Disney Animated films were nominated (Pixar's Monsters Inc. did get a nomination the previous year but lost to Shrek.)
The movie lost over $70 million at the box office. It is one of Disney’s largest financial losses.
Biggest discussion between my son and I. Was Morph a good guy or a bad guy? If he was with Mr. Silver all that time he should have known Silver was planning a mutiny. I almost figured when he left with Jim that he was acting as a spy.
Disney’s third adaption of the book Treasure Island. The first two were the 1950 movie Treasure Island and the 1996 Muppet Treasure Island
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