30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite Disney Movie, March 22, 2006
*** Spoiler Warning - this review might reveal surprises in the movie ***
First off for a frame of reference, I'm a 30-year old male and a sucker for Disney movies in general.
When this movie came and went to the theatres in a flash, I heard so much bad about it, how it was the worst Disney movie ever, that I actually didn't go see it in the theatre. I regret that now. First time I actually saw this movie was on a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles to London, and I fell heads over heels in love with it!
I adored the original Novel "Treasure Island", and I believe that Treasure Planet lives up to it. The central theme of Treasure Planet, in my mind, is the boy, Jim, who grows up with only a vague recollection of his father who in the movie appears like a shadow in Jim's faded childhood memories.
I think this particular "flashback" scene was very powerful, it featured the absolutely brilliant "I'm still here" track by Johnny Rzesnik, and led the viewer to fully understand Jim's childhood, and to share his teenage frustration and delinquency that stems from his father abandoning the young Jim and his mother. Possibly, I might a bit biased in this respect, since I can strongly identify with this situation as my own father was "married to the sea" when I grew up, and i can admit that i blubbered like a baby during the flashback sequence.
This is right in line with the core message of the film. A young, reckless and frustrated boy who is taken under the wing of the Old Salt, who becomes his new father figure. He learns how to take orders, work hard, grow, face adversity, and eventually become a man by making tough choices. An excellent message in this day and age, if you ask me.
I also loved the theme the producers chose. A type of anachronistic retro-futuristic design, where we in the future still use old, creaking, wooden, pirate ships, but with ultra futuristic systems. The movie also suspends the viewer from reality in many flavorful ways - for instance when the spaceship travels through the universe, it encounters a pod of whales. Or how Jim takes a dhingy "comet surfing".
I think this film provides excellent entertainment, suspense and has a great message for kids. But as an adult, I think I also got a kick out of this GREAT and CLEARLY UNDERRATED Disney flick.
SEE IT!
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, if flawed, TREASURE PLANET, June 11, 2003
It's always a gamble when you adapt a timeless classic like Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." It's even especially dicey when you take the story out of its original setting and time. In this case, Walt Disney studios try to give the old swashbuckler a futuristic sci-fi spin in TREASURE PLANET, a film that partially succeeds in that task. Set in a future time on a far off planet, the familiar story of heroic cabin-boy Jim Hawkins and the charming pirate Long John Silver is given the space ace treatment. Instead of the one legged pirate we know, Long John is now a cyborg. The Squire and Doctor characters who lead the treasure expedition are combined into one eccentric type (David Hyde-Pierce), while the ship's captain is a no nonsense feline voiced by Emma Thompson. Finally, the castaway Ben Gunn is reimagined as a run-at-the mouth robot (Martin Short), who has lost his memory chip. The animation is stunning and many of these characterizations work for the most part. The one exception is the cyborg Silver. Played with an Irish brogue and charm, I found it hard to really see this character as being totally capable of evil, as is his counterpart in the original book. Indeed, it's hard to take this softie seriously at times. Part of the attraction of the Long John Silver creation is that he is a balance of good and evil. He becomes a character we like, even as we loath his deeds.
Other than that, this film is suprisingly faithful to the book in the basic plot, and it deserved better than what the critics gave the film when it was first released. Overall, this is a version that I would recommend, despite the fact that there are better adaptations and better portrayals of Long John Silver elsewhere.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Walt Would Be Proud!, January 23, 2003
Walt Disney was fascinated with the story of Treasure Planet and had actually opted to do it as the first full length animated film. He then realized it didn't need to be animated and did Snow White. He kept thinking about a way to do Treasure Island as an animated movie and eventually made it as the studios first live action film. Now, the Disney team has come up with a brilliant way to do it as an animated film. They set it in space and it is my favorite film version of Treasure Island. I know it did horribly at the theaters, but so did Cinderella and look at how well known that is. You will love Treasure Planet if you liked the book or the live action version. The best part would have to be B.E.N, a crazy robot on Treasure Planet who is clearly missing a few pieces and is voiced by Martin Short. Plus the ending was so cool and original! Definately not the typical cute musicle Disney is known for doing in the past.
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