Treasure Planet (10th Anniversary Edition) (2002)

*** 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!

Treasure Planet was not a blockbuster hit like its predecessors, through no fault of its own. It is one of Disney's rare cult classics, gathering a small but rabid following of fans who praise its beautiful, revolutionary art direction, including the use of fully-mapped CGI environments upon which the characters were animated, and the fun, genuine voices of the all-star cast including Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It is a true Disney story with its young protagonist, Jim Hawkins, growing from a sullen teenager to a brave, hard-working young adult in one amazing adventure through space.

The story was pulled from Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling masterpiece Treasure Island, in which the young Jim Hawkins grows to care for his mentor John Silver and is therefore devastated to learn that his teacher is in fact a pirate in disguise, looking to mutiny along with the rest of the crew. The story is translated to sci-fi amazingly well, using a 70-30 ratio for the mise-en-scene of the whole thing. 70% is true to its original tale; characters wear 18th century fashion, the architecture of the spaceport is all Georgian, and the ship on which they travel is a beautiful three-mast schooner with a few modifiers for the journey. 30% is sci-fi, with laser guns, giant holographic treasure maps, and a crew of exotic aliens ranging from cute to downright scary.

(Detractors of the movie quickly point out that the ship is not closed, and how could they be breathing in space anyway? The directors, Ron Clements and John Musker, revealed in the 'Art of...' book that the universe where they live does not work with the same properties as ours. There is air and weather in space, as well as nebulas and dying stars to make the journey treacherous.)

Treasure Planet as a whole deserves more credit. It features all the basics of a Disney classic: a handsome, sympathetic main character; a diabolical antagonist who you come to care for as much as the heroes; a bumbling sidekick and his leading-lady love interest; and the slightly-annoying Third Act Addition character. The story carries as much heart as, say, Lion King or Pinocchio. The art is truly stunning; just sit back and watch the colors of space swirl across your TV screen, or the subtle-but-perfect facial expressions of the characters. Clements and Musker admit much time and thought was put into the eye movements of the characters, trying to make them look as real-life as possible.

Last but not least, I need to mention and rave about the score. James Newton Howard really seemed to throw himself into making the soundtrack as beautifully classic as possible, with a full orchestra really setting the mood for a pirate tale set in the 1700's. It has several moments of pure adrenaline, pure bittersweet happiness, and pure longing for your own ship and crew to take to the stars.

The picture quality for the Blu-ray is sound. The transition up from standard def did not result in the sparkling white of the drawn lines that afflicted the Beauty and the Beast Blu-ray; everything here is crisp and clear and smooth, and the upscale resulted in the most vibrant colors I've ever seen from this movie. The background of space in its swirls of blues and purples and the warm and cool colors of the digital lighting from fire to nighttime are better than they've ever been. The CGI parts of the movie were also upgraded with the release; one of the detractors of the film was that the brand-new computer graphic technology looked janky or amateur. Not anymore. Now it fits seamlessly into the 2D world and you barely notice it.

The sound of the movie blew me right out of my living room. Granted, I do have Bose speakers, but I've watched my DVD of Treasure Planet plenty of times, and never before has it sounded so grand and clear. It was clearly tinkered with, to give even more life to this movie. I heard background noises that I've never noticed before, like the conversion had made them better.

The ONLY, ONLY ONLY ONLY, problem I had with this release was that the special features have all been seen before. The only new parts were introductions to each section of feature (art direction, characters, animation, development, etc.) by Laurie Metcalf, the actress who voiced Jim's mother Sarah Hawkins. The interviews with the creators and directors were all on the DVD, and they're included on the Blu-ray in standard def, with black borders and pixellated images reminding you that you're watching featurettes from 10 years ago.

Regardless, this is a Blu-ray worth buying and treasuring forever. Since I never, ever believed it would come out in 1080p glory, I'm about to fall to my knees and kiss Disney's boots. You will not regret giving this larger-than-life movie a chance, and I'm willing to bet you will find it a welcome addition to your Disney Blu-ray collection.

Buy Treasure Planet (10th Anniversary Edition) (2002) Now

Leave it to Disney to come up with a way to update Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale "Treasure Island" into a science fiction epic. The studio that brought you the unforgettable live-action film version returned to the source material once again with the idea of taking the adventure into deep space and to other worlds. Unfortunately, moviegoers weren't interested in "Treasure Planet" when it came out in 2002. The film underperformed at the box office but was still nominated for a 2002 Academy Award in the category of Best Animated Feature.

Thanks to every movie on the planet receiving the high definition treatment, audiences get the chance to give this entertaining film another chance with the release of "Treasure Planet: 10th Anniversary Edition." It's hard to believe the movie came out 10 years ago. It was the first to be released in IMAX and regular theaters on the same day. The movie is also of importance as a shining example of 2D hand drawn art used on top of 3D computer animation.

Not much changes in "Treasure Planet" as far as story and characters go. It still revolves around Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who discovers a holographic treasure map that supposedly leads to a pirate's loot on a far-off planet. Hawkins and his mentor Dr. Doppler (David Hyde Pierce) embark on a trek across the stars on a ship whose crew is made up of dangerous aliens led by a mutineering cyborg named Long John Silver (Brian Murray). Can Jim and the rest of the loyal crew of the ship find the treasure and collect it before the traitorous buccaneers do?

This will relate to fans of sci-fi both young and old. It takes the great classic tale and successfully makes it relevant to kids in the 21st century used to watching "Star Wars," "Star Trek," and other movies and TV shows that take them to other worlds. The pacing of the film is good and the story will keep the viewer's attention.

The high definition transfer of the film is magnificent. The picture is crystal clear and filled with bright and vivid colors that keep your eyes glued to the screen. The 5.1 surround further brings to life James Newton Howard's musical score and the anthemic pop songs of Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik. The explosions, laser shots, and flying ships will jump out at you from all over your home entertainment center with this great audio mix.

Special features for the film include 43-minutes of production featurettes introduced by actor Laurie Metcalf and a "behind-the-scenes" one entitled "Disney's Animation Magic." There's also comprehensive feature commentary with co-directors/co-writers Ron Clements and John Musker, producer Roy Conli, and supervising animators John Ripa, Ian Gooding, and Glen Keane. Three unfinished deleted scenes are included with introductions by directors Ron Clements and John Musker. A 17-minute "R.L.S. Legacy: Virtual 3D Tour" and the six-part "DisneyPedia: The Life of a Pirate Revealed" featurette are here as well.

The "Treasure Planet: 10th Anniversary Edition" gives movie lovers a second chance to see this excellent example of how hand drawn and computer animation can co-exist. The story is complex enough for adults yet simple enough for children to take in. A great feature film and plenty of bonus material make this a recommended buy for Disney and sci-fi fans alike.

Read Best Reviews of Treasure Planet (10th Anniversary Edition) (2002) Here

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.

Want Treasure Planet (10th Anniversary Edition) (2002) Discount?

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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