TREASURE PLANET -Thoughts and Reviews-

[B-ball Dude]

This doesn't look great but Jo gave it a good review so you never know. You can't judge a movie by its preview. It might be alright.


Post your thoughts and reviews here.

[Dude]

From what I'v seen on tv, this looks like it will be an AWESOME flick! I just hope there's a GOOD STORY to go along with the incredible animation.

[dh1989]

I don't really want to see this. I love the original novel, but this film looks like they ripped it apart to be a little Disney film. And they seem to have made Jim Hawkins an annoying little brat/rebel. I will ignore this one.

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/walt_disney/treasure_planet/planet1.jpg

[Ed]

OMG! i'm anticipating this movie so so so so so so much! I think it looks visually incredible and i KNOW disney has a hit.

[Nate6]

Looks slightly better than the similar Atlantis (5/10) and Titan: AE (6/10) but still not great. Like dh, I hate the whole Jim Hawkins as rebel part, and I don't think the character animation looks great at all (the large-scale scenes do, though).

[idealdiscountdude]

I honestly do not know what to make of this latest offering from Walt Disney Pictures.

It looks visually breathtaking, however I'm a big fan of the novel Treasure Island and I do not really care for the concept of the story unfolding in "space" or what have you.

Anywho, I probably will check it out....it seems intriguing enough.....

[blankpage]

This film does remind me of Atlantics. But it looks like some good clean kiddie fun. And hey, yeah never know it could turn out solid.

BTW, where is Jo's review for this?

[Jerk Shapiro]

Yeah, looks like pure Disney adventure fun! I think I'll wait until video though. Or if nothing else good is on, probably in theaters...

[Ed]

Originally posted by blankpage

BTW, where is Jo's review for this?

in the movie news sections he said he saw it and liked it alot. he will eventually post his review, really soon i guess.

[JoBlo]

I saw this movie a couple of months ago and posted my mini-review in the UPCOMING MOVIE TALK forum. I've re-posted it below...it's a very cool movie which I believe will make a whole LOTTA MONEY....let's see....

Full review should be up during the week of its release...

---------------------

I just came back from a very early screening of Disney's TREASURE PLANET (http://www.treasureplanet.com/) (release date: November 27) and was very surprised to find myself enjoying it all the way through. As some of you already know, I'm not exactly the "biggest" animation fan around this block, but I really had a blast with this picture.

Great animation, awesome colors, a very cool space adventure all around with entertaining characters...I'm not allowed to put my review up until the week of the film's release, but needless to say that anyone looking forward to this movie should be happy to know that it kicks some mighty ass. It moves quick, it shakes, it shimmies...it's got some laughs and dammit, even a tinge of emotion. Basically...it entertains!! (no lack of energy a la ATLANTIS here)

All in all, I will likely be giving the film an 8/10, so there you have it.

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0133240/tpposter.jpg

[Mike]

I'm not interested in this one at all. It reminds me of ATLANTIS, although it does look "slightly" better. But I never saw ATLANTIS and I doubt I'll ever see this. I probably won't even see it on video, even if it's free. I just have no interest in this one...

[Ed]

wow! the reviews have been excellent so far, i'm definitely checking this one out!!

[dh1989]

Did anyone see this film? Is it any good?

[dh1989]

I think it will have a killer box office opening. All of today's showings at my theatre were sold out.

[KcMsterpce]

I watched it tonight. I saw a 9:45PM showing, and strangely there were only 12 of us. But that won't say much about the B.O. success/failiure becuase it's a kid-oriented flick, not adult. How many kids are up the night before Thanksgiving with their parents watching a movie in the theaters?

I liked it. Not exactly 8/10 IMHO, but I thought it was a nice little escapist fare with interesting animation in some parts. It was the LITTLE things that I noticed. For example, near the beginning at the tavern there were these window panels that change the scenery from outside, and when the 'camera' panned, the panes would reflect a moving background 'N-Sync (hehe) with the panning. You have to see it to understand what I mean, but for some reason I seemed to notice that little tidbit more than I think I should have.

But it's no Afghanistanimation, that's for sure! J/K

As for the movie itself... it was fun. I feel that it could have been much better. I know you can't breathe in space - and this shouldn't matter at all because in THIS movie your imagination and suspension of disbelief should accept it - but I was thinking up the strangest ideas as to HOW these guys could fly around in open air in space without space suits on giant floating pirate ships. If the aliens can do it I guess that's cool, but a HUMAN was doing it too! BAH! FORGET THAT! Just have a good time, right?
OK, so the voice acting was very good, the story was ho-hum, and I don't remember the book being very much like this feature at all. Maybe it's my mind aging too much for my own good, but I don't really remember much interstellar flight in the BOOK. Oh well...

Honestly, I'll say go see it for a good time. Don't think of it as an adaptation to "Treasure Island" and it will be easier to swallow this pill. It's not bad, and I liked it more than "Atlantis". Leave your Thinking Caps at the door, put on your Kiddie Jackets and enjoy the adventure.

Rating: 6.5/10

[thompsoncory]

I saw it yesterday afternoon and it was pretty good, with really good animation and some cute little characters. Overall, I'd give it about a 7.5/10, which is much better than my dismal review of Atlantis (4/10).

[bskutle]

**#9 on Brian's "Must-See" list of Fall 2002**
Long story short, this is the movie I wanted "Titan A.E." and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" to be, but neither was. Do we really need a sci-fi "re-imagining" of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale? No, but when the "re-imagining" is this complete and original, you won't hear any complaints from me. This is probably the most definitive combination of traditional animation with CG flourishes we've seen yet, and it'll absolutely take your breath away. It adds visionary flair to the standard adventure of Stevenson's quest, with the Disney crew adding the usual comic relief and sarcasm to bring in the families again and again. It lacks the personal touch and surprising feeling of this summer's wonderful "Lilo & Stitch," but it's a finely-wrought adventure yarn that probably paves the way for future efforts in traditional animation.

[sleekproductions]

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0133240/03_job10022994.jpg


Disney is back, and they're better than ever. Treasure Planet is an awesome time at the movies. I got thrown into a different world, and was completely enthralled by it. There is so much fun and coolnees shoved into this animated movie that it is hard to understand how Disney has done this so many times. And the animation ain't half bad either. Hell - The animation is amazing, stunning, gorgeous. The ships, and planets, and spaceports, and people are all beautifully drawn. It is a true spectacle to look at.
All the elements of a great film are here; every aspect is near perfect. The voive work is terrific. The actors play their characters with enthusiasm, and it really just sounds like they're having a great time. The character relationships are also surprisingly good for an animated film. I really liked how Silver took to Jim; it was really touching. The other supporting characters were also very funny: BEN, Dr. Doppler, and Morph. The story here is also awesome. Surely everyone has heard the story of Treasure Island, but in my opinion, updating it and setting it in space was pure genius. It allowed for the idea of an adventure w/ pirates etc. to still be intact, but it told the story in a new, and refreshing way.
For an animated movie, the action scenes and direction were also suprisingly good. It's hard to imagine what all of this would have looked like as a live-action film, but it works perfectly with animation. The sky-surfing scenes were great, as were the battles on the ships. This was a GREAT adventure. Another aspect of the film that I think added a helluva-lot to the fun was the score composed by James Newton Howard. It sounds a lot like the pirate scores of yesteryear, but also adds a new "scifi-esque" flair. It is one of the best of the year.

All in all, this is a great movie. Tons Of fun, tons of adventure, and great animation. A great time at the movies.
I would also like to note that when I left the theatre I heard tons of kids talking about how this was "The Best Movie Ever." I thought that was great that they enjoyed it so much...


Rating: B+

[FeverDog420]

Originally posted by idealdiscountdude
I honestly do not know what to make of this latest offering from Walt Disney Pictures.

It looks visually breathtaking, however I'm a big fan of the novel Treasure Island and I do not really care for the concept of the story unfolding in "space" or what have you.

Ebert had the same reaction:

Walt Disney's Treasure Planet has zest and humor and some lovable supporting characters, but do we really need this zapped-up version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic? Eighteenth century galleons and pirate ships go sailing through the stars, and it somehow just doesn't look right. The film wants to be a pirate movie dressed in Star Wars garb, but the pants are too short and the elbows stick out. For anyone who grew up on Disney's 1950 Treasure Island, or remembers the 1934 Victor Fleming classic, this one feels like an impostor.

I am not concerned about technical matters. I do not question why space ships of the future would look like sailing ships of the past. I can believe they could be powered by both rockets and solar winds. It does not bother me that deep space turns out to be breathable. I do not wonder why swashbuckling is still in style, in an era of ray guns and laser beams. I accept all of that. It's just that I wonder why I have to. Why not make an animated version of the classic Treasure Island? Why not challenge the kids with a version of an actual book written by a great writer, instead of catering to them with what looks like the prototype for a video game?

These are, I suppose, the objections of a hidebound reactionary. I believe that one should review the movie that has been made, not the movie one wishes had been made, and here I violate my own rule. But there was something in me that ... resisted ... this movie. I hope it did not blind me to its undeniable charms.

There is, to begin with, a likable hero named Jim Hawkins, whose speaking voice is by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and singing voice by John Rzeznik (of rock's Goo Goo Dolls). Jim is a nice enough kid when we first see him being read to by his mother in his standard-issue Disney fatherless home. But he grows up into a troublemaker, and it is only the possession of a holographic treasure map and the journey in this movie that season him into a fine young man.

Hoping to sail away to a planet where "the treasures of a thousand worlds" have been deposited, Jim signs on as a cabin boy under the cat-eyed Capt. Amelia (voice by Emma Thompson), and is soon befriended by the cook, John Silver (Brian Murray), a cyborg whose right arm contains an amazing collection of attachments and gadgets. Also on board is the wealthy Dr. Doppler (David Hyde Pierce), who is financing the voyage. (His doglike appearance and Amelia's feline nature make us wonder, when romance blooms, whether theirs is a relationship likely to last.)

I will not be spoiling much, I assume, to suggest that John Silver is more than a cook, and less than a friend. He has mutiny in mind. And the troubles on board the ship are backdropped by troubles in space, where a black hole threatens, and there is a "space storm" as dangerous as any in the Caribbean.

It is obligatory in all Disney animated features that there be some sort of cute miniature sidekick, and the peppy little creature this time is Morph, a blue blob that can assume almost any shape, is cuddly and frisky, and takes sides. Another supporting character is B.E.N. (Martin Short), a cybernetic navigator who apparently has some fried memory boards, and lots of one-liners. He would be obnoxious unless you liked creatures like him, which I do.

Disney experiments with its animation methods in the movie (which is being released simultaneously in regular theaters and on the big IMAX screens, which have recently brought such an awesome presence to Fantasia and Beauty & the Beast). The foreground characters are two-dimensional in the classical animated style, but the backgrounds are 3-D and computer-generated ("painted," the Web site assures us, but with a computer stylus rather than a brush). Some may find a clash between the two styles, but the backgrounds function as, well, backgrounds, and I accepted them without question.

I'm aware that many, maybe most, of the audience members for this film will never have heard of Robert Louis Stevenson. They may learn in the opening sequence that he once wrote a book named Treasure Island, but when this book is opened by Jim's mother, it contains no old-fashioned words, only pop-up moving images. For these people, the loss of the story's literary roots may be meaningless. They may wonder what old sailing ships are doing in a futuristic universe, but then there's a lot to wonder about in all animated adventures, isn't there, since none of them are plausible. My guess is that most audiences will enjoy this film more than I did. I remain stubbornly convinced that pirate ships and ocean storms and real whales (as opposed to space whales) are exciting enough. Even more exciting, because they're less gimmicky. But there I go again.

**1/2

[blankpage]

Treasure Planet
My first reaction to this film was, hmmm it was pretty good. But after a while when I had thought about I found myself not liking it that much. It was visually great, some very good scenes. I noticed that there were some CGI(3-D) things in there as well, mixed with the regular Disney animation. I find it quite sad that Disney had to come up with an idea like Treaure Planet in space. Sure it is an interesting idea, but it's not totally original. The way the film flows was maybe the worst part of it. Many of the scenes seemed not to be good with the story. Some of the charatcers were interesting, but I found the main character to be a deau ja veu. Though this film does entertain, and give us some laughs. Espically from a robot we see near the end. But I didn't really see the point to the whole story. Maybe it was, Good Pirates need to meet a little boy, to become good guys. I have mixed emotions with this film. One side of me says, it was a great entertaining movie, the other side says it was too childish. Never the less I will give it a rating that has me stuck in the middle.

6/10

[Puck Bond]

Treasure Planet...the swashbuckling, treasure-seeking adventure by Robert Louis Stevenson gets a Disney-styled, sci-fi update with its out-of-this-world spaceships and weird and crazy aliens...and turns out a very fun and inventive movie that i found very enjoyable. Joseph Gordon Levitt voices Jim Hawkins a young, adventurous boy who gets into lots of trouble and worries his single mother who runs a small inn. He hears tales of pirates and treasure and planets as a kid until one day...the map and key for great riches fall into his lap...but of course there are some others who want it too...soon he is on an expedition to find Treasure Planet, a planet full of riches and fortune with bumbling Dr. Doppler voiced by David Hyde Pierce aboard a fabulous flying ship that comes with a motley crew full of weird and wonderful alien scoundrels. There is the captain Amelia voiced by Emma Thompson (very funny thoughout), John Silver a cyborg with a mechanical arm and he is accompanied by Morph, a little pink glob that can shape-shift into pretty much everything and is absolutely adorable...and easily the coolest character of this film. They also meet up with B.E.N. a forgetful and clumsy robot voiced by Martin Short...the part where they meet him and Morph changes into him is hilarious. There are some other whacky and wild aliens and some not so nice ones like Skroopf a spider/lobster like creature voiced by Michael Wincott. The film is full of high adventure, bright colors and sci-fi action galore with the touch of Disney heart thrown in for nice effect. Overall Treasure Planet is an enjoyable animated advenure full of creative visals and weird and wonderfull alien folk...very young kids might find it a bit too scary or weird, but almost all ages can enjoy it even adults.

[Fergus]

TREASURE PLANET -- A big disappointment for me, and it was already apparent within the first five minutes. Number one, the traditional animation is a huge misstep in the film, in terms of how it is handled, no stylishness in those scenes, pretty bland. Not to say I'm against traditionally animated films, but Disney has lost its touch, which is why they are going out of style. Much of the comic relief didn't work, and a couple of the characters got annoying, the professor and Ben the robot. Only one memorable character makes it out alive, Long John Silver--well done. As for Jim Hawkins, why do these teenage animated characters need always to be angry and alienated? The character was laughably cliche. But I did enjoy the father-like and son relationship between Silver and Hawkins. Silver's sincerity feels genuine, another reason why I enjoyed the character so much. The plot was obvious, since I've seen the original Treasure Island numerous times (the 1950 version). Some of the futuristic takes are cool to see, but that is all that really works. As for the epilogue, could it be any worse? Coming from director's Ron Clements and John Musker, I expected more...they made two of my favorite animated films THE LITTLE MERMAID and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Somewhat exciting, but overall forgettable--no wonder Disney isn't making money...its not very good. (6.5/10)

[Fergus]

Originally posted by blankpage
Treasure Planet
My first reaction to this film was, hmmm it was pretty good. But after a while when I had thought about I found myself not liking it that much. It was visually great, some very good scenes. I noticed that there were some CGI(3-D) things in there as well, mixed with the regular Disney animation. I find it quite sad that Disney had to come up with an idea like Treaure Planet in space. Sure it is an interesting idea, but it's not totally original. The way the film flows was maybe the worst part of it. Many of the scenes seemed not to be good with the story. Some of the charatcers were interesting, but I found the main character to be a deau ja veu. Though this film does entertain, and give us some laughs. Espically from a robot we see near the end. But I didn't really see the point to the whole story. Maybe it was, Good Pirates need to meet a little boy, to become good guys. I have mixed emotions with this film. One side of me says, it was a great entertaining movie, the other side says it was too childish. Never the less I will give it a rating that has me stuck in the middle.

6/10

I disagree with most of this. I don't mind the idea of "Treasure Island in Space," I think it had potential. And please tell me, since when is anything entirely original anymore? (Besides "Being John Malkovich") The VARIATION on the story is original. But, they do take the easy way out and follow the same storyline as the famous book and don't add anything new, they could've and thrown in some twists in the story, but instead, they take the easy way out and just "futurize" everything--not a good move.

I agree with your comment about the "flow" of the film, but you didn't elaborate, so I have NO idea what you're talking about. I however think that the film moved too quickly, and was just going through the motions to get the story told. Some scenes are too brief, uninteresting and not very memorable. Like the early scenes inside the Hotel, Inn, whatever it was.

I found only one character interesting, obviously it was Silver.

*******POSSIBLE SPOILERS*************
The film did have a point, and I thought it was fairly obvious. Basically, the film is a coming of age story. Jim is a troubled kid without a father, Silver helps him in that department and Jim, something along the corny lines of, "learns to believe in himself and succeed in the end."
****END POSSIBLE SPOILERS*******

I don't mind kids movies, especially when they're made for kids. I don't see how it was childish, except if you're referring to the robot at the end named Ben, who really got on my nerves----a first rate Jar-Jar Binks. I just felt it wasn't well written, and the characters were cardboard cutouts and uninteresting as well. It all started with the rushed exposition. Why o why did they screw up with this movie. But hey, Atlantis was worse, so I won't complain too much anymore....

and another thing, I thought the little "morph" was cute.

[HollyGoKimsy]

I just saw this film Friday night. I took along my favorite movie bud (my 11 yr old godson). It's the first movie I've seen with him where both of us just said "wow" at certain times.

In defense, I've never read "Treasure Island", so I can't speak to the movie vs. the book. And I've never seen "Atlantis", but I can see where some of the scenes look similar.

I thought the animation was absolutely stellar. The story was your basic Disney watered-down version, but for us, it worked. It's nice to see a Disney movie without the singing. I liked "Lilo and Stitch", but I think I preferred this one. It's a shame it's not making much money - it's a better movie than some of the other films currently out there.

My godson said he liked it better than Monsters and better than Harry Potter. That's high praise from him.

If I had to rate it, I'd give it *** out of 4.