A film of overwhelming and underwhelming expectations, Treasure Planet is more than just a silly named retread of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate novel. It's an example of what not to do when trying to modernize a classic story. Naturally, directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Great Mouse Detective), who seemed to lose their original sense of storytelling after the Pop Culture craze that was rampant in Aladdin, fail to tell a story in this film and basically add whatever they think would sell tickets instead of tell stories. Plot: Set in the far future, a young Jim Hawkins is told of the legend of Treasure Planet, where space pirates stowed away a vast treasure. Cut to several years later, when Jim, now a delinquent, is given a mysterious sphere by a dying man who crashes into his mother's hotel. When tinkering with it, he discovers that the once he opened the sphere, it showed him a map to Treasure Planet. Along with one of his mother's friends Dr. Doppler, the two hire a crew for the journey to the treasure.
On the ship, Jim is taken under the wing of cyborg chef Long John Silver, who secretly plans to mutiny along with many of the sailors, who are actually pirates. But Silver takes a liking to Hawkins, and finds it continually difficult to double cross/ take care of Hawkins, whom he looks at as a son.
What's Bad?: One HUGE flaw keeps me from liking this film. And it is the setting. Usually, this isn't a problem for an animated film. But here, it actually hinders the experience. The film is stuck in-between wanting to be this epic Star Wars film and trying to be fiercely loyal to the original novel. While they do travel in spaceships, they are kind of like sail boats? And while Silver is a cool looking cyborg, Jim's mom where's a bonnet? If you're not gonna retell the story of "Treasure Island", the very least you could do go all the way with the sci-fi angle. It's an awkward and clustered blend of poor mixing of two vastly different universes...
What's Good?: The Characters are surprisingly effective, particularly Jim and Silver. They're "father-son" relationship drives the picture in most ways and they're two of the most effective characters Disney has had in a long time. The other characters are good too, although the Martin Short robot and the Doppler guy can get a bit annoying.
The steam punk soundtrack used is interesting, but I never believed it belonged in a Disney movie.
The animation, while clunky, is still very good. Despite the setting, the animation is still pretty cool.
Overall: This film is a shame. It has all of the things that could tell a really strong Disney story, but suffers from a seriously flawed setting and general idea. If you are into character heavy stories where everything else makes no sense at all, be my guest and check this out. If not, you probably won't like this one.
Report Card
Hero: 88
Heroine: 85
Villains: 90
Side Characters: 82
Songs: 75
Musical Score: 80
Animation: 80
Special Effects: 90
Story: 65
Themes: 55
Final Grade: 79
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