Treasure Planet Movie Review

 Originally Posted to Letterboxd on July 31st, 2021

“You got the makings of greatness in you, but you got to take the helm and chart your own course.”

For 20 years, directors John Musker and Ron Clements have been pushing Disney to make their passion project based on Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island but in space, despite of their massive successes with The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules. Well after all of their successes, they were finally get their passion project up and running. There’s a few problems that came during the making of their the project. It was coming around the time where 2D animation was dying out and 3D animation was on the horizon, the bad marketing that didn’t knew how to market the film properly, and the fact it’s one of the most expensive projects Disney has ever produced at the time with $140 million. So it was sadly no surprised that Disney really didn’t care about this project and thus it was a box office bomb upon on its release. However throughout the years, it has gained a cult following with many people have so found it to be one of Disney’s best and most underrated films in their catalog, and yeah. Count me as one of them, as this is truly amazing. 

There’s a lot to really admire and love about Treasure Planet. For starters, this is one of the most visually pleasing films Disney has ever produced. The team at Disney went all out with blending 2D and 3D animation so seamlessly at every sight. From the designs of the ships and unique worlds, to fluent movements on the characters, to the backdrops and lighting composition, to the unique character designs, and to the way how they blend the more classical setting with the more fantastical technologies with a bit of steampunk aesthetic in the mix, every bit of the visual presentation in this film comes to full beauty through its energy, movements, and set pieces that makes it both grand in scale yet personal within character as well. Not to mention that the score by James Newton Howard is beautiful across every board. Having each moment feel grand as an adventure like feel it can be, while also personal when it needed for the more smaller and emotional moments to shine for the characters to express their feelings through the musical cues and the visual lens of it all. 

But as we know, style and presentation can only get you so far if the story and character work is just as interesting, and thankfully, it is as interesting as the visuals. It does a great job of keeping the basis of the original story, while also taking its own unique spin with the execution of it all and using the Treasures Island in space concept to the full potential. This is even goes with the great character work as well. 

Jim Hawkins is a great lead. Not only through Joseph Gordon Levitt’s vocal performance, but through the way he is written that’s makes it one of the best protagonists in all of Disney canon. He started the film as your typical moody teen who gets into trouble and not really opening his heart to anyone. But as the film progresses, we see that he starts to believe a lot more in himself and taking the courage to push through the patches within his life to becoming the best version of himself he can be. That’s some great character work right there and it’s all handled so beautifully that makes his progression all the more natural and believable. The same can be even said with John Sliver. One of the best and underrated villains Disney has ever created. An pirate who’s obsessed with getting treasure and power for his own pleasure, but developed a softer spot in him as he developed a close bond with Jim and being a father figure to him, since Jim’s real father abandoned him when he was young. But also showcasing how scary he can be at times when it’s needed, especially after the reveals of his true intentions. Not to mention the relationship between the two is the heart and soul of the film and it’s great to see their relationship grow and develop in a natural and believable way. Even when things aren’t always eye to eye at times (especially after the betrayal Sliver had with Jim), it’s still handled so greatly that makes the two characters work both within their chemistry and individually. 

The other cast of characters are really fun and interesting to watch like Captain Amelia, Doppler, and BEN just to name a few. They all helped give the film a lot more sense of life and personality into the film and keeps the fun exciting and the adventurous tone as consistent as possible. Now if I had any flaws with the film is that I wish the film can do a little more with Amelia and Doppler instead of sort of pushing them to the sidelines for the majority of the film. As well as a few CGI elements feel a bit dated and kinda clunky compared to other places in the film. But those issues don’t hurt the experience in the long run. 

In short, Treasure Planet is a truly great experience and marked as one of the best Disney animated films not just of the 2000’s (despite how rocky that decade was for the company), but in general. With stunning animation, beautiful musical score, a great cast of characters (with two of the best and most fleshed out characters in their line ups of heroes and villains respectively), and taking the classic Treasure Island story into new and interesting routes, this is a truly a classic that should be seen by any one of any age. Truly some great stuff that we don’t get anymore from Disney these days. 

Rating: 9/10