Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Treasure Planet

I’m just going to say it right off the bat, this movie should have been a bigger hit than it was. Prior to starting this project, I had never seen this film in its entirety and, after watching it twice at this point, once with my girlfriend and again as part of the Deep Dive Disney project, I can honestly say waiting this long was a mistake. This is one of the most unique and fun films I’ve watched for this retrospective and while it’s nowhere near the level of something like Hercules or A Goofy Movie, it’s still incredibly creative with a lot of heart, both in its characters as well as in the passion put into the project. The setting is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, melding an old-world aesthetic with futuristic technology in a way that's both creative and interesting to look at. Sadly, despite having all this going for it, the film just didn’t really find an audience and found itself in Disney’s forgotten pile and the subject of many YouTube videos entitled “Disney’s Greatest Failure.” A real shame too since this was a massive passion project from two of Disney’s biggest heavy hitters, Ron Clements and John Musker, the same duo behind some of Disney’s most celebrated films, including three films in my “Big 5.” Apparently, this film had been stuck in development purgatory since before The Little Mermaid (another Clements and Musker film) was released. While it’s a shame that the two had to wait two decades before their dream project hit the big screen, I am glad they waited until the technology was more up to date since this movie is truly a visual marvel. However, visual style can only get a movie so far. What’s the story here? Adapted from the 1881 adventure novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Planet takes us to a pseudo-futuristic setting where a space pirate named Flint had amassed a treasure so large that they called it “The Loot of a Thousand Worlds.” According to legend, Flint stashed his loot on a world known as Treasure Planet. As a young boy, Jim Hawkins was obsessed with the legend. As a young adult, Jim is juvenile delinquent lacking direction in his life, that is until an old Pirate crash lands in front of Jim’s mother’s inn, giving him a map to Treasure Planet and a warning to “Beware the Cyborg.” Jim, excited about a new adventure and thinking that the loot will help rebuild his mother’s Inn after it was destroyed by pirates looking for the map, heads out on a ship in search of the legendary treasure. Whilst serving as a cabin boy on board the RLS Legacy, Jim meets a Cyborg named John Silver. While at first Jim doesn’t trust Silver, over time, the two bond, Silver developing a soft spot for the boy within whom he sees great potential and Jim seeing Silver as the father figure that he never had. If you’re familiar with the source material, then you know what happens next. Yup, Silver is the leader of a bloodthirsty crew of pirates who stage a mutiny. Now on Treasure Planet, it’s up to Jim and friends to outfox Silver and find the treasure first. So, what are we waiting for, let’s set sail for Treasure Planet.

Main Character:

As much as I enjoy this movie, I’d be lying if I said that Jim is one of the more interesting main characters we’ve covered. There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just a character archetype I’ve seen a million times before. Voiced by a very young Joseph Gordon Levitt, Jim is a kid lacking direction in his life and never learned the right way to be due to an absent father. While I appreciate the novelty that Disney chose to have Jim’s father walk out on his family instead of having him die off screen like so many others, this is still nothing new. Hell, in many ways, Jim is very similar to Aladdin (another Clements and Musker movie by the way). Jim is someone who simply does not see a future for himself. Like Aladdin, Jim doesn’t recognize his own worth. that is until he finds an opportunity to go after Flint’s treasure. It’s not until he bonds with Silver that he begins to realize what he’s capable of and what he can offer the world. Jim’s mother recognized Jim’s potential but never knew quite how to nurture it as Silver did.

Villain:

While Jim is a bit of a stock character, Silver is fascinating to me. While he is the main antagonist of the film, a case can be made that he is also just as much the main character as Jim. Silver has been obsessed with finding this treasure his entire life. He’s likely done terrible things in order to further this endeavor, things he probably regrets but justifies because the treasure has to be worth it, especially after all he’s sacrificed. All that hardware sticking out of Silver’s body, heavily implied to have been the consequence of him pursuing the treasure. As he says, “You Give Up a Few Things, Chasing a Dream.” There’s definitely humanity in Silver as we see throughout various points in the film but a lifelong obsession has twisted him over time. In Silver’s mind, the treasure is all that matters. That is, until he meets Jim. At first, Silver only cozies up to Jim to keep him distracted since Jim clearly suspects his true motives. However, once the two have spent some time together, they actually form this really sweet bond with one another. Jim obviously sees Silver as the father-figure he never had and Silver starts to see Jim’s potential and genuinely begins to care for him as well. To continue the Aladdin parallel, in a lot of ways, Silver is a better fleshed out version of Cassim from Aladdin and The King of Thieves. Silver does care about Jim even if he won’t admit it to himself right away but he has to keep up appearances around his crew and has been pursuing his treasure for so long he can’t seem to let it go. Even after the big mutiny, you can tell Silver’s conflicted and even offers to give Jim an equal share of the treasure if he joins his pirate crew. So much of Silver’s conflicted emotions are depicted brilliantly in his facial expressions, telling so much of his story without a single line of dialogue. Even at the end when Silver is forced to choose between saving Jim and saving the treasure, you can see the conflict written all over his face. In the end, Silver makes the right choice and saves Jim, even quipping that it was “only a life-long obsession” and that he’ll get over it.

Having a sympathetic and complex antagonist is great, but if you prefer your Disney villains to be uncomplicated, morally bankrupt and unambiguously evil, Treasure Planet’s got you covered. Enter Scroop, the freakiest member of Silver’s pirate crew, which, frankly, is already a bit of a freak show. Scroop is a huge creepy spider-like alien who is utterly terrifying and the only one willing to question Silver’s authority. He murders the Legacy's first mate, Mr. Arrow, simply out of spite and later tries to do the same to Jim. Every move this guy makes just screams pure evil. A lot of what makes this character work is the fact that he’s voiced by one of the most underrated villain actors of all time, Michael Wincott, perhaps best known for his role as Top Dollar from The Crow. His voice is perfect for this character who serves as one of the most enjoyably intimidating bad guys we’ve had in a while.

Side Characters:

There’s quite a few side characters worth discussing so lets jump right on in

There’s not too much to say about Morph, he’s just a cute little shapeshifting ball of adorable. I want to give a brief shoutout to Billy Bones. Not because he’s a terribly memorable character but because he’s voiced by Patrick McGoohan and just wanted an excuse to say that The Prisoner was an awesome show.

Mr. Arrow is pretty cool if underutilized character. I love that he looks like The Thing in a sailor suit. His uptight by-the-book way of doing things perfectly compliments Captain Amelia’s more manic personality.

B.E.N., the insane robot voiced by Martin Short that Jim finds on treasure planet is a lot of fun. I swear this character is basically just a robotic version of Olaf. Seriously, so much of B.E.N.’s mannerisms were reminding me of Disney’s favorite Snowman. I’m not complaining because I love Olaf and B.E.N. is hilarious.

Dr. Delbert Doppler, friend of the Hawkins family and financier of the voyage to treasure planet is a very entertaining character. Now, I made clear when I discussed his role as Slim the Stick Bug back in A Bug’s Life that I am a huge fan of Delbert’s voice actor, David Hyde Pierce, so I really want to make it clear that it is not an insult when I say that… he’s just playing Niles Crane again. Again, that is not an insult, Niles Crane is my favorite character from one of my favorite sitcoms and I enjoyed Pierce's performance as Doppler immensely, but the character’s mannerisms were so similar to that of Niles I couldn’t help but fins it a little distracting. Hell, he even ends up with a beautiful woman with a British accent who’s insanely out of his league, he’s totally Niles!!

And that will lead us nicely into my favorite character, Captain Amelia Smollett. I’m just going to come out and say it, I think I have a new animated crush. This character is a total badass who’s never without an amusing quip. I would honestly have preferred it if the entire movie was just about her. The only thing that could have made her a perfect character is if she was voiced by Kate Mulgrew just to complete the Janeway energy she gives off. That is, of course, no disrespect to her actual voice actress, the always excellent Emma Thompson, who absolutely nails it as Amelia. I absolutely love the way she plays the character in this way where you’re never quite sure if she’s a little nuts or just likes messing with people. It’s great stuff. I also really love the relationship formed between Delbert and Amelia. While they may at first seem to be complete opposites and have something of an antagonistic relationship with one another, they eventually develop this really cute chemistry with one another that blossoms into a romance. They even have this one scene where you think they’re going to have that cliché tender kiss followed by an awkward pull-apart but they don’t do the pull-apart, they just accept that they’re in a relationship now and it’s really cute. Also, Amelia and Delbert’s Puppy-Kitties from the end of the movie might be the most adorable things I’ve ever seen in any of these movies.

Songs:

Only one noteworthy song this time out. It’s called I’m Still Here and it plays over a montage of Jim and Silver bonding. There’s nothing really wrong with the song but let’s just say it’s painfully obvious that this film came out in 2002. It’s written and performed by Goo Goo Dolls frontman, Rzeznik. Like I said, the song’s not bad, it’s just not really my genre and for a film that does a great job blending the past and the future, its choice of soundtrack sadly makes it feel dated.

Memorable Scenes:

I have to talk about the really cool opening scene where we learn about Flint and the legend of Treasure Planet. The scene is cool and the fact that it’s shown through a children’s book, one narrated by our old friend Tony Jay no less, is a nice touch.

The scene where Jim is seen flying around on his hover sailor and evading the robot police is cool as hell. It actually reminded me of the scene in Star Trek (2009) where a young Kirk steals the car. Hell, you want to throw a pop song in this movie, play Sabotage over this scene. Now that would be awesome.

Probably my favorite scene happens right before the big mutiny. Silver lays out his plan to his crew, unaware that Jim is hiding in a barrel in the corner of the room. He even says that he only befriended Jim to keep the boy off their scent, something he later admits was a lie he told so his crew wouldn’t think he’d gone soft. Shortly after, Silver goes back for his spyglass and finds Jim, immediately realizing what’s up. The tension in this very brief scene is brilliant. Jim feels betrayed and Silver deeply regrets having hurt the kid but also doesn’t want him to blow the plan. Both go for weapons behind their backs, but Jim is quicker on the draw and stabs Silver’s robotic leg to get away. Like I said, it’s a short scene, but it works nicely.

Story:

The themes present in treasure planet seem to be those of seeing one’s own worth and forging your own path in life, but also adds in the lesson that sometimes your path may not necessarily be what you think it is. Take the case of Jim and Silver. Both of them were obsessed with the treasure for a long time and ultimately, neither one of them really needed it. I actually like that Jim ends up with the Galactic Navy at the end. It’s probably not the future he envisioned for himself, but it’s still a future he can be proud of, and Silver, the man who helped him realize his potential, will be proud of him too.

More than the themes though, I just want to talk about the setting of this film. This might very well be one of the most creative worlds I've ever seen brought to life in a Disney production. The way it takes something with an old world aesthetic and gives it a futuristic function is really cool. So often would I see something new and different pop up in the film that made this world all the more engaging. If I could live in this world, I would.

The Dark Disney Factor:

We already discussed Scroop, who is frankly, a nightmare on six legs. I’m not even afraid of spiders and this guy still gives me the creeps. Otherwise though, this movie keeps things reasonably lighthearted for the most part. Sure we have things like Flint’s actual skeleton guarding the treasure, the implication that Silver had half of his entire body horribly destroyed sometime before the events of the film or the parts where people get thrown into the vacuum of space where they’ll likely die a horrible and painful death. Not one of the darker films we’ve had so far, but it has its moments.

Final Thoughts: This movie is amazing! It's unbelievably creative, it's visually stunning it has great characters and a surprising amount of heart to it. You can tell Clements and Musker put their blood, sweat and tears into this one and that effort is all there on the screen. If you missed out on this one like I did, change that. It truly is one of Disney's greatest hidden treasures. Next time, Deep Dive Disney returns to the world of Direct-to-Video Disney sequels as we look at 101 Dalmations 2: Patch's London Adventure