Treasure Planet (2002) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Many people have said Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is the ideal adventure story to be written, but what if I told you the best way to keep the excitement immortal with a science fiction makeover?


PLOT


Walt Disney’s Treasure Planet follows James Hawkins who lives in planet Montressor and runs an inn with his single mother Sarah (Laurie Metcalf). Long before his father left them, he always desired to find the titular fabled planet filled with a trove of treasure hidden by infamous space pirate Captain Nathaniel Flint. That dream comes true when an alien named Billy Bones crash-lands near his home, being chased by pirates for a sphere he has. He tries to save him by bringing him in the inn, only for him to give him the sphere and warn him of a cyborg before dying from internal bleeding. The pirates do catch up, but Jim & Sarah are able to evade them as they hide in the home of their only friend, astronomer Delbert Doppler. There, unintentionally unlocks the sphere and discovers it to be a holographic map that can direct them to Treasure Planet. With the pirates destroying the Benbow Inn, Jim sees it as an opportunity to rebuild it with whatever treasure he can collect. Sarah only allows her son to go once Delbert expresses interest in going as well. At the local spaceport, Delbert is able to commission the RLS Legacy with it being captained by the feline Captain Amelia and stone willed Mister Arrow (Roscoe Lee Browne). However, most of the crew is led by the cook John silver who Jim quickly deduces to be the cyborg Jim warned him about. Against their wishes, Silver assigns Jim to be Silver’s cabin boy, which leads to them bonding once the expedition begins. By then, Hawkins proves to have his back when saving him from being consumed by a black hole. During that obstacle, he does secure everyone’s life lines, but is blamed for Arrow’s death which was secretly caused by the arachnid Scroop. Feeling responsible in this setback, Silver cheers him up about since he figured out what had really happened. The following day, the boy gets carried away playing with the miniature shapeshifting, pink blob named Morph that is Silver’s pet. Their playfulness leads to hiding in a barrel of fruit when unintentionally overhearing the pirates’ intentions to mutinying the ship just to get to Flint’s Trove for themselves. Jim would be distraught hearing what Scroop did and Silver claiming he never cared about him. Just when they’ve reached Treasure Planet, Silver realizes the boy overheard him, thus having to mutiny sooner. Jim warns Delbert & Amelia, which leads to them abandoning ship. As that happens, Morph chooses to be playful by taking the map from him and leaving it on the Legacy. Silver almost shoots the boy, but ends up proving he still cares when not taking the shot. As they still abandon ship, they got shot down by a plasma cannon and crash land. With Amelia injured, Jim scouts the area on his behalf and ends up meeting a robot named BEN (Bio Electrical Navigator) who claimed to have met Flint before losing his memory chip and has forgotten exactly what happened. After Jim rejects a deal with Silver for the map, unaware he left it on the ship, BEN uses a secret passage that’ll take them to the closest longboat that’ll take them back. Jim is able to get the map back after surviving an attack from Scroop, but the commotion caused by BEN intending to disarm the cannons alerts the other pirates, causing them to hold the others hostage, and forcing the protagonist to take him to the treasure. After following the map’s coordinates, Jim deduces the map is also a vast portal and the treasure is buried in the planet’s center. He opens a door that takes them all to the trove. There, Jim finds Flint’s corpse still holding onto BEN’s memory chip who quickly remembers he rigged the planet to explode to keep the treasure for himself. With the detonation going off once Silver went through, Jim hotwires Flint’s ship whereas BEN goes to help Delbert & Amelia. Silver sees this and tries to intervene, only to save him from falling off the edge of a cliff. With only minutes left for the planet’s complete self destruct, Jim convinces the crew to turn toward the portal so he can take them back to Montressor spaceport. Jim races over to the map with a spare rocket thruster that he uses as a solar surfer and opens the door in time. After surviving the ordeal, Silver chooses to sneak off to avoid incarceration for his mutiny. The other pirates would be imprisoned instead, but Jim would let Silver go out of respect for him saving his life as he did for him. Before leaving, Silver gives him a pocketful of treasure he can use for his mom’s inn and allows Morph to stay with him. When returning home, Jim would join the Royal Interstellar Academy (thanks to a recommendation from the captain) and Amelia would have four children with Delbert, having fallen for each other during the expedition. As all celebrate with locals at the new Benbow, the film ends with Jim looking at the clouds and thinking of Silver.


THOUGHTS


Sci fi has been my jam since I was a kid thanks to Star Wars, which made me easily hooked to see this in theaters the year it did. I won't overreact and try calling this the best thing Disney ever made, but this was pretty damn good when looking back. Like Atlantis, the blended combo of 2D-3D animation was such a creative choice because the environment is without a doubt immersive to get through. From one planet to another and with each alien character, each thing has an intriguing design that pulls you in for a timeless story. I mean how are you interested in epic proportions like an Orcus Galacticus or cute figures like Morph? That just shows this was deeply one of a kind. Although I've yet to see the 1959 adaptation of Treasure Island as of writing this, nor have I made the time to read the book, I still respect this version deeply because the directing team of Ron Clements & John Musker are able to match its heart in teaching us the main lesson that has yet to change: When feeling self doubt and want to overcome personal challenges, set your own path and believe in yourself or you won't be content with how life goes. This has always been the case for Jim Hawkins who may be rebellious, but is humble in his own way because he's not selfish and chooses to be courageous when push come to shove. Joseph Gordon-Levitt pulls off all of this very well through his voice alone and we can't stop rooting for him when he portrays Jim as such. He could've taken the role of a pirate with ease due to the lack of guidance in his life. There's no doubt he loves his mom, but the absence of his dad broke him and he felt like he wasn't enough. His true reward he wanted to be more precious than all of Treasure Planet was acceptance and he gained that through characters he never would have anticipated. Brian Murray was quite an enigma as Silver because even though he was a cunning pirate, he reforged a heart of gold when meeting the young Hawkins. He became so attached to him because it was a case of seeing himself in him. He wanted to give him the guidance he didn't get in his youth and it worked because it made him a better person. The song "I'm Still Here" is so moving because it is all about that acceptance which he gets. Silver gave up the treasure for him because he knew he wouldn't forgive himself if he let him die. Jim returns the favor in letting him go because he was grateful to have someone care more than his mom. With a new chapter getting to happen, there's no doubt he'll always thank him for giving him that chance. While Silver is the one that broke through to him, it was nice to see he wasn't the only one to care. Delbert may have not been a father figure either, but David Hyde Pierce made him likable because despite pacifistic, he was able to adapt to most situations at hand, especially when putting his knowledge to good use. Emma Thompson also made a standout as Captain Amelia because she came through in being a feisty yet strong willed leader. She and Delbert end up hitting it off mostly due to an opposites attract situation since her leadership led to him coming out of his shell. He reciprocated as showing appreciation since he doubted himself until she expressed seeing potential in him and Jim. Martin Short definitely made the best of it as BEN because although he was separated from his mind that made him too eccentric for his own good, he was still resourceful with what he had in front of him. And once he got his mind back, he proved how smart he can really be. With such likable characters, it can be hard to narrow down who was the real villain. Because Silver was a rebel at heart who couldn't see himself rehabilitating no matter how much good he could do, the true antagonist was Scroop because Michael Wincott succeeded in making him most devious of SIlver's crew. He chose to kill Arrow out of spite and got under everyone's skin, so his actions spoke for himself. With that making him most intimidating, it is a relief Jim was able to neutralize him because he likely would've not returned home if he didn't. With Jim's life back on track, we know he'll have more adventures on the way and with many threats to deal with, but I'm sure it won't stop him from staying his course as he learned. This movie will be awesome to watch, but there have been a handful of things that have bothered me upon re-watching. Like continuity errors happen fast when we see the inside of the Benbow because one customer swaps seats between frames and a whole other customer appears when not being present before Jim comes home with the cops. It’s even weird to notice Sarah got a refill for the kid’s worm bowl while talking to Delbert which we didn’t see. Because she doesn’t say she refilled, it’s hard for me to believe she really did. It even gets worse with the fact the road from the inn to the parking lot is supposed to be far yet Jim was very close when it came to checking on Bones. The point of space is even confusing with the fact the pirates quickly appear in the kitchen, to discuss rushing the mutiny, just when Jim jumped in the fruit barrel. Like no one seeing him before Silver is crazy. And if I haven’t proven my point yet, the same issue occurs when Silver is reaching to Jim while holding onto Flint’s ship because he was definitely not a fingertip away. Story wise, I don’t see why Delbert would leave his toothbrush on top of his tall stack of books? Forget the comedy, that’s just bad hygiene. And how exactly did he make an armpit fart while wearing his space suit? Since he doesn’t use it for the rest of the movie, the joke would’ve been better without him wearing that. And we know Scroop is supposed to be intimidating when telling Jim to mind his business, but it’s on the other pirates for choosing to speak with him nearby. He’s even lucky to grin in front of the captain who somehow didn’t know he had beef with Arrow. Also, how are there barnacles in space? Those are the kind of things meant for water but if you’re telling there’s a space version of them like that Orcus Galacticus being the variant to the whales, then that is crazy. And if Jim didn’t lose the map thanks to Morph, would he have taken Silver’s deal? Considering he only wants the treasure to help his mom, it makes you wonder if he’d be desperate. I know the joke for BEN is that he’s not the brightest without his memory chip, but it is totally on Jim to assure him again on being quiet. And which pirate was on the lookout? If Silver was sleeping and Scroop was still on the ship, it gets harder to narrow it down when they knew to get the jump on the protagonists. Flint was pretty damn smart to rig the whole planet, but the fact no one noticed the laser at their feet is absurd. If you can ignore this, then you’ll still have a blast. In short, Treasure Planet is the ideal definition of what an reimagining of a popular story should be and deserves its ongoing recognition for fantastic animation. If you want an appropriate makeover of a story, this is the one for you.