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User Reviews for: Treasure Planet

r96sk
10/10  4 years ago
Unequivocally, unmistakably, undeniably Disney's greatest animated film. A masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned. Long read ahead!

Film and reviews are all about opinions, which is only a positive thing. I, for one, though have yet to find a better animation than this. No doubt I'm probably partly clouded by nostalgia, but even a tonne of years later I still remember how blown away I was when I first watched it. Nothing's changed.

Where to start? I love every single detail about this film, for which there are many. Not only does it improve upon the studio's earlier 1950 production about Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel, but it manages to create an incredibly touching, amusing and rather thrilling story for all. They don't rely on the usual, overdone Disney front and center romance to do it either.

It's a story of a young kid coming-of-age into the world. You really go on a journey with Jim Hawkins, who hadn't had the most happiest childhood. We see him grow into a man across just 95 short minutes. Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings Jim to life superbly, no surprise to see he has done other great things in his career.

Gordon-Levitt isn't the only outstanding performer here, with Brian Murray and Emma Thompson showing their talents in the roles of John Silver and Capt. Amelia. I adore the dynamic between Silver and Hawkins, Murray is truly brilliant. Thompson is great in her role, also.

Even below those aforementioned names, you have memorable characters in Delbert (David Hyde Pierce), B.E.N. (Martin Short) and Mr. Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne). Morph (Dane Davis) is a cracking little sidekick, too.

Away from the cast, you also have the sensational animation. They mix hand-drawn 2D and computer generated 3D, which comes out exquisitely. Sure some of it hasn't aged impeccably compared to now, but it all to this day still looks utterly stunning. I love the attention to detail.

That's not all. How about that music? I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've listened to that soundtrack down the years, it's so beautifully crafted by James Newton Howard and John Rzeznik; the latter's, as part of the Goo Goo Dolls, "I'm Still Here" fits so, so well.

Can you tell how much fondness I hold for this? It's fantastic! Did Disney mishandle it? Sure. Does it deserves more respect? Definitely. However, I'm kinda glad they just let Ron Clements and John Musker do their thing. Heavy Disney interference could've ruined it. The fact this has zero pointless sequels is marvellous, even if it's for the wrong reasons.

There are minor rumours they plan to live-action this. Normally I'd argue against classics being remade, but I think this 2002 production is in a win-win position in that regard. If it's a big success it'll be good for it, if it's terrible then it'll put more eyes on the original.

It's kinda funny, I don't see myself as a Disney fan and yet my two favourites films (this + 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl') are from this studio - and both pirate-y, interestingly. Hmm.

Go watch 'Treasure Planet'!
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Reply by DarkKn1ght
3 years ago
I really enjoyed reading your review. Having just recently discovered this gem, I cannot but fully agree how awesome the flow of the movie was.
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Reply by r96sk
3 years ago
@darkkn1ght I keep forgetting to check replies, so apologies for the (very) late reply.<br /> <br /> Thanks for commenting! I love it, one of my favourites for sure - happy to see you enjoyed it too.
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AndrewBloom
CONTAINS SPOILERS6/10  4 years ago
[6.3/10] *Treasure Planet* is basically “Daddy Issues: The Movie.” The movie subtly suggests (at times, not so subtly), that Jim Hawkins was a young man with a bright future and thirst for adventure until his dad left. Without that paternal support, he became a troublemaker and, as the robo-cops describe him, a loser. Then, John Silver entered his life and, despite his double-crossing nature and roughness around the edges, filled that fatherly need. That allows Jack to heal from his lingering scars from his dad’s abandonment and, with the right instruction and encouragement from his surrogate pirate papa, become his best and most capable self.

It’s a sweet idea and, ultimately, a sweet relationship. There’s just one problem with it -- half of it just doesn’t work. Long John Silver is a revelation of design, animation, character, and performance. Jim Hawkins stumbles and, in some places, outright fails on all the same measures.

Silver is the duplicitous pirate with a heart of gold, who ultimately chooses his friendship with the promising young lad over the heaps of treasure he’s chased his entire life. His cybernetic enhancements -- from his analyzing eye, swiss army knife arm, and pneumatic leg -- distinguish him immediately as a physical presence. The animators give him deliberate but fluid movements and gregarious but subtly menacing expressions. And Brian Murray spills out the high seas lingo, colorful exaggeration, and warm acceptance in a way that gives the old sea dog real life. Silver is the best part of the film, and it shows.

But Jim is a drip, and worse yet, he’s our protagonist. His bland design reeks of what a bunch of middle-aged dudes think “the kids” would find cool these days: floppy hair, a pony tail, an earring, a space-faring skateboard, and so on and so on. His moody teen affect is a bore from the jump. He grabs a few moments of memorable kinetic ness when he rides his skiff at the beginning and end of the film. But for the most part, he’s just a generic, vaguely action-y kid, with little to distinguish him in appearance, writing, or delivery to make him memorable, or really anything beyond a cinematic container for young boys to pour themselves into.

His look contributes to the way *Treasure Planet* seems dated in a way few entries in the Disney canon are. His quasi-Boy Band haircut and skater-y inclinations drip with passe nineties hipness. The one song with lyrics in the picture is a syrupy bit of turn-of-the-millennium alternative rock that scans as immediately out of place. Worse yet, the efforts to composite 2-D and 3-D animation play out as mistuned and occasionally even jarring.

That’s the most frustrating thing about this movie. At times it is utterly gorgeous to look at. The film’s animation team comes up with a host of neat designs for the motley miscreants who populate the RLS Legacy and other far-flung locales. A mid-movie action-packed escape from Black Hole utilizes the space-bound setting to create challenges and images that command the eye. The colors of the cosmos, the playful montaged misadventures of Hawkins and Silver, and the shape-shifting delights of the parrot equivalent, Morph, stun and delight, mainly when the 2D and 3D elements are kept separate.

But when *Treasure Planet* tries to combine them, the results are stiff and jarring. It’s ambitious to try to meld the hand-drawn world that Disney had all-but perfected with the digital one it was still dipping its toes into, but it’s an uneasy marriage. Two-dimensional characters often look like moving stickers plastered onto three dimensional scenes. Computer-generated backgrounds and traditionally animated figures don’t mesh well, detracting from the immersiveness of the images on screen. And B.E.N., apart from just being an annoying presence, is a visually distracting one, given how his cel-shaded state between the two modes of animation only relegates him to the Uncanny Valley.

Some of that might not loom so large if the story were better paced or more engaging. While the quintet of writers were somewhat boxed in by Stevenson’s original narrative, the movie has a hard time generating investment in Hawkins’s plight or mission, and then barrels through most of the adventure. Little of *Treasure Planet* feels streamlined, with us instead lingering on early extended character development for Hawkins that amounts to little, before it’s off to the races. What follows is a mad dash from arrival to near-catastrophe to mutiny to escape to discovery to....escape again, with little time for any of it to have real meaning or impact.

As an adventure, it’s just paper thin. The treasure map just falls into Hawkins’s lap and much of the ensuing excitement happens to him, almost at random, rather than because of him. The basic character motivations are clear, but not particularly deep. And it’s rare that Silver’s choices, as headstrong and raring to go as he’s supposed to be, actually drive the action beyond coincidence and contrivance.

Some of the characters buoy that plot of convenience. Dr. Doppler is basically just David Hyde Pierce playing Niles Crane again, but Niles Crane is funny and charming and so is Doppler. Emma Thompson instills dignity and a certain softness to the captain which helps paper over the way she’s nevertheless toppled by scallywags. And as annoying as Martin Short is in the now-traditional celebrity sidekick role, Morph more than makes up for it with his Looney Tunes-esque visual panache.

With those personalities in tow, *Treasure Planet* works best as a weightless adventure with some ambitious, if often wonky-looking animation. If all you want is a heap of players darting across the galaxy in a grand, intergalactic schooner, this film has you covered. The problem is that it can never quite muster that extra Disney magic, of an engrossing story or a worthy lead or a more unified visual presentation to wow or endear.

The closest it comes is in that central relationship. There’s a worthwhile story to be told of a young man growing up without a dad and finding his way with the help of a questionable but ultimately loving substitute father figure. There’s a worthwhile story to be told of a cutthroat pirate who recognizes greatness in a young man where no one else does, who cultivates it and preserves it at the cost of his own life’s work because he can’t help but love the kid.

*Treasure Planet* only really tells one of those stories, or at least only tells one of those stories well. So we’re left with a movie that seems as unbalanced between its would-be father and son, the past and the future, and its CGI and hand-drawn elements, as a teetering, wayward ship that can just barely stay afloat.
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CinemaSerf
/10  3 months ago
Loosely based on one of my favourite stories, this version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" sees the young Jim Hawkins on a magical adventure on a space galleon. Befriended by the cyborg cook "Silver" they face all sorts of perils on their journey before arriving at the "Treasure Planet" whereupon the young lad realises that his pal isn't quite so trustworthy. It's a great adventure story, the voice talents are fun making their mischievous characters engaging to watch - and the animation, though maybe not quite as vivid and detailed as I would have liked, still keeps the narrative alive and thriving. Still not a patch on the superb Robert Newton version (1950) but still a very entertaining watch.
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r96sk
/10  4 years ago
Unequivocally, unmistakably, undeniably Disney's greatest animated film. A masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned. Long read ahead!

Film and reviews are all about opinions, which is only a positive thing. I, for one, though have yet to find a better animation than this. No doubt I'm probably partly clouded by nostalgia, but even a tonne of years later I still remember how blown away I was when I first watched it. Nothing's changed.

Where to start? I love every single detail about this film, for which there are many. Not only does it improve upon the studio's earlier 1950 production about Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel, but it manages to create an incredibly touching, amusing and rather thrilling story for all. They don't rely on the usual, overdone Disney front and center romance to do it either.

It's a story of a young kid coming-of-age into the world. You really go on a journey with Jim Hawkins, who hadn't had the most happiest childhood. We see him grow into a man across just 95 short minutes. Joseph Gordon-Levitt brings Jim to life superbly, no surprise to see he has done other great things in his career.

Gordon-Levitt isn't the only outstanding performer here, with Brian Murray and Emma Thompson showing their talents in the roles of John Silver and Capt. Amelia. I adore the dynamic between Silver and Hawkins, Murray is truly brilliant. Thompson is great in her role, also.

Even below those aforementioned names, you have memorable characters in Delbert (David Hyde Pierce), B.E.N. (Martin Short) and Mr. Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne). Morph (Dane Davis) is a cracking little sidekick, too.

Away from the cast, you also have the sensational animation. They mix hand-drawn 2D and computer generated 3D, which comes out exquisitely. Sure some of it hasn't aged impeccably compared to now, but it all to this day still looks utterly stunning. I love the attention to detail.

That's not all. How about that music? I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've listened to that soundtrack down the years, it's so beautifully crafted by James Newton Howard and John Rzeznik; the latter's, as part of the Goo Goo Dolls, "I'm Still Here" fits so, so well.

Can you tell how much fondness I hold for this? It's fantastic! Did Disney mishandle it? Sure. Does it deserves more respect? Definitely. However, I'm kinda glad they just let Ron Clements and John Musker do their thing. Heavy Disney interference could've ruined it. The fact this has zero pointless sequels is marvellous, even if it's for the wrong reasons.

There are minor rumours they plan to live-action this. Normally I'd argue against classics being remade, but I think this 2002 production is in a win-win position in that regard. If it's a big success it'll be good for it, if it's terrible then it'll put more eyes on the original.

It's kinda funny, I don't see myself as a Disney fan and yet my two favourites films (this + 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl') are from this studio - and both pirate-y, interestingly. Hmm.

Go watch 'Treasure Planet'!
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saundrew
6/10  8 years ago
So many people seem to forget about this movie. To be honest, I can't really get angry with them for that. I really wanted to love this movie going back to it. The whole concept seems pretty cool to me, and I enjoy going back to hand drawn animation that we don't see much anymore.

But, this movie really has a lot of flaws. The characters with interesting, potential interest are under used while boring or super annoying characters take the most time. For so much open ability, a lot of the character design is just kind of meh. Then you meet a crazy robot who brings nothing to the plot, yet achieves bringing utter annoyance to the audience.

This is still a Disney animated feature though, so they know how to make it moderately engaging. I do love the Treasure Island story, and adapting it is done pretty close to the original. Long John Silver is fun to see, and they get about 75% of what makes his relationship with the protagonist interesting.

So give it a watch if you've never seen it and are slightly interested. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon, but if I had a kid who loved it on repeat my day would certainly not be ruined.
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