Treasure Planet (2002)

We're down to four films in the Disney Canon, all hand-drawn 2D films.  Let's kick today off with Treasure Planet.

The Movie:

Treasure Planet is the 43rd movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  This was the passion project of directors Ron Clements and John Musker, who first pitched the idea to the studio back in 1985, at the same time they also pitched The Little Mermaid.  The latter was chosen as the duo's follow-up to The Great Mouse Detective.  Following their movie Aladdin, the two pushed strongly to make this movie, and only agreed to do Hercules on the promise that Treasure Planet would be next.  Although the movie is primarily 2D animation, 3D CGI was used for a lot of the backgrounds.  Treasure Planet was the first major studio film to be release simultaneously in both standard format and IMAX.  Although critical response to Treasure Planet was fairly positive, it was a bomb at the box-office.  The losses pretty much wiped out the profits Disney had made from Lilo and Stitch earlier that year, and it ended up being one of the biggest nails in the coffin of 2D animation at Disney.  It didn't help that it opened the same weekend as the second Harry Potter movie.  Some people also blamed poor promotion on the part of Disney, as the studio executives were rather uncertain about the project.  Since the movie's release, it has been gaining popularity with fans.

Treasure Planet is essentially Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in space with some steampunk elements, and outside the setting change, it is fairly faithful to the novel.  Teenager Jim Hawkins lives on the planet Montressor with his mother Sarah, who runs the Benbow Inn.  Young Jim is constantly getting in trouble with his solar surfing, and his mother worries for his future.  One day, a ship crashes at the inn, and the pilot, Billy Bones, with his dying breath gives Jim a mysterious object, which turns out to project a map to the legendary Treasure Planet.  After escaping from a group of pirates that destroy the inn, Jim and family friend Dr. Doppler set out to the spaceport to hire a ship to find the treasure.  Doppler hires the RLS Legacy, led by Captain Amelia, to take them.  However, she warns them to beware the unscrupulous nature of the crew, which includes a part-cyborg cook by the name of John Silver.

Treasure Planet is actually a rather fun movie.  It's an interesting twist on the traditional and often retold Treasure Island story, and most of the time, once you accept the setting, it really does work.  Many of the character designs are somewhat unusual, but for the most part, they don't distract from the story.  As per the Disney formula, a couple of the side characters have to be comedic relief.  The parrot analogue, the shapeshifting blob Morph, isn't bad, but B.E.N. the robot gets a bit grating at times.  As this movie is from the early days of incorporating 3D CGI into a 2D film, some of it is fairly noticeable today, but overall the movie still looks good.  Overall, the movie, like Atlantis, is going for a more mature audience than most Disney films, and I think they do a better job here.

Once again, we have another score from Disney's unsung composer James Newton Howard.  His work here is another epic masterpiece.  The music is gorgeous and grand, and it has some nice melodic allusions to traditional sea chanteys.  There are two songs, "I'm Still Here" and "Always Know Where You Are," both written and performed by John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls.  Both are nice songs, but they definitely have that early 2000s sound.

Presence in the Parks:

Given Disney's lack of love for this movie, it's surprise, since a little promotion in the parks around the time of the movie's release, Treasure Planet hasn't been seen much at the parks.