Treasure Planet Appreciation Thread

[cammyr12]

I was about 10 years old when i recieved Treasure Planet on VHS for Christmas, and literally my entire family would gather around the tv to watch it almost every week. I'll admit it isn't really a children's film, but that doesn't stop it from being a spectacular movie in general.

And it's song, " I'm still here" <3333 definitely a tear jerker.

[DisneyFan09]

Personally, the film didn't flop because there was anything wrong with it, it flopped because it was poorly marketed and a bit more grown up than what Disney had been doing. I know by that point they'd been in PG territory, but "Treasure Planet" deals with some slightly more adult themes and morally ambiguous characters than "Atlantis" or "Lilo & Stitch" did.

Perhaps it had more mature themes than Atlantis, but not more than Lilo & Stitch. Lilo dealt with quite heavy and mature themes, too, more than Treasure Planet. And the characters were more ambiguous in Lilo than in Treasure, since none of them (with the exception of David) had all good qualities.

Sorry if I'm nitpicking, but I just wanted to state my opinion.

[DisneyFan09]

[/quote"cammyr12"]I'll admit it isn't really a children's film[quote]

Like how?

[DisneyFan09]

[/quote"cammyr12"]I'll admit it isn't really a children's film[quote]

Like how?

[DisneyFan09]

[/quote"cammyr12"]I'll admit it isn't really a children's film

Like how?

[Patrick]

I recently got into this film again. I'd forgotten how much I liked it! After I watched it again for the first time, I did a bit of researching online to see if I could find out why it did so poorly, if there was a specific reason. I didn't find anything, though. It's a shame that this film will probably never get a proper release when it is so good overall. I feel like we'll get a 25th anniversary release like The Black Cauldron.

[DisneyGuy220987]

There was a thread that asked us to list our favourite Disney films in the animated canon, and Treasure Planet is my 3rd fave, was my favourite until Bolt came along, and that too got knocked off by Tangled.

I tried to read Treasure Island when I was younger, and although it was good, it didn't really engage me. Treasure Planet, however, was (in my opinion) an amazing interpretation of the book with a great spin on things.

The animation was good, the story is top notch. And it's one of the only Disney films where we actually see the loss of a parent, instead of it happening off-screen (Jim's Dad leaving the family during the "Jim's Theme" montage).

The score was fantastic, great voice acting from the cast...and the 2 songs featured were good too, I really like them.

[DisneyGuy220987]

Personally, the film didn't flop because there was anything wrong with it, it flopped because it was poorly marketed and a bit more grown up than what Disney had been doing. I know by that point they'd been in PG territory, but "Treasure Planet" deals with some slightly more adult themes and morally ambiguous characters than "Atlantis" or "Lilo & Stitch" did.

Me, I love "Treasure Planet". I think once you're in the mindset, it's a great movie. I might be biased because I like Joseph Gordon Levitt so much, but there you have it.

I will admit some of the CGI animation is a little iffy, mainly those flying things when we first see Crescentia and sometimes the ship itself. Long John's CGI, as Netty said, looks amazing, though, and fits him spectacularly well.

I agree. In the UK, I hardly saw any promotion for Treasure Planet.
Only during the week running of the film's release was a billboard put up for the film around my area.

Lilo & Stitch on the other hand had WAY more promotion going for it, which was unfair

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't think it has anything to do with the amount of marketing, but the slant the marketing takes. I only remember seeing commercials focused on the farting alien. I honestly had no desire to see Treasure Planet before I actually saw it on DVD, and at that point it became one of my favorites. Jim is one of my favorite male characters still.

That said, Tangled did really well with unappealing marketing--although not quite as focused on low humor as TP and HOTR's marketing was--so who knows.

[Disney's Divinity]

Re-watched TP for the first time in a while yesterday morning. You know, I usually find myself trying to justify liking this movie, but I don’t really think there’s anything about it that’s really that bad. I mean, it's definitely not on par the films from Disney's hit periods, and isn't as good as Atlantis, TENG, or Lilo & Stitch from that same decade either from an objective viewpoint. But I don't know, it's passable. I still hate the 3D in this movie because the majority of it sticks out like a sore thumb (and did when it was released). But the 3D backgrounds do help in one great scene—where Silver and Jim first meet/talk, and the background is shifting in a circle. (The 2D animation looks phenomenal in that scene, too.) And of course Silver’s robotic half is well-done. What really holds the movie down is the overall feeling of mediocrity. I was watching the teaser trailer and I couldn’t help thinking it looks so similar to something Don Bluth would’ve released—or maybe I’m only thinking of Titan AE? TP and Titan AE feel like siblings. Another thing that holds the film down, imo, is the celebrity takeover of voice acting that happened in the '90s and became the norm by the point this was released. Nearly everyone here is instantly recognizable to me, and most of them have annoying voices despite doing their best. I wish the film had been created with mostly non-celebrities. *shrug*

The finished opening is so much better than the alternate opening they have among the DVD's deleted scenes, but I think they should’ve opened with Jim in his bedroom hearing his parents arguing before pulling out the book as a distraction.

I still wish the sequel and TV series had happened because I would've definitely appreciated them at the age I was at the time, but I have a feeling they would’ve pushed a love interest for Jim hard and I’d rather keep the few non-romantic leads we have. And Jim is still one of my favorite male leads, although I can understand why others find him a bit bland. Silver is also a great character, imo. Doppler and BEN still grate, but I don't hate them like I did at one time. Amelia is, just like Silver and Jim, a character that's rare for Disney, I think, being unabashedly smarter/stronger than the other characters without being a villain. And I think she is the best-animated character in the film, personally, along with Silver (Jim is great, too, but there are a lot of scenes where he doesn't really stand out). As a character, Jim to me is like the male version of Ariel (as far as embodying the general attitude of a teenager), and of course his and Silver's relationship is the best part of the movie. I've always loved Morph, probably thanks to him being nonspeaking. Looking at concept art, I wasn't surprised he was bird-like at one point considering those weird bird noises he makes.

[JeanGreyForever]

This is actually my 2nd fav movie from the 2000s era after Lilo & Stitch. I never cared much for it originally either but after I watched it again on Netflix a few years ago, I really fell in love with it. It's vastly underrated and imo a lost classic. If the film had had better marketing and kept its original 2003 release date, I think the film would have done much better. Maybe it still wouldn't have been a hit like Lilo & Stitch, but I think it could have pulled in more audiences than it ended up doing.

The 2D/3D mesh never bothered me, although it's never even bothered me in films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin (only in Hercules is it difficult to stomach). The celebrity voices aren't an issue for me either. I suppose I'm the target audience, because generally I find it endearing unless the celebrity is just playing him or herself and not doing justice to the character (*cough* Emma Watson as Belle *cough, cough*).

I love the opening as well because it has that classic Disney storybook type of opening despite being a very different type of movie. I do like your idea of his parents arguing though. That would have worked really well, but at the same time, it may have robbed the opening of Jim's childlike wonder.

The sequel and TV series would have introduced a love interest for him in the same way both Lilo and Stitch got love interests in the TV show as well, although the major difference was that the love interest character (Kate) would have been the 2ndary character. As someone who has never really had a problem with characters like Jar Jar Binks or Gurgi, I'm not really against BEN either and I really enjoyed Doppler. Amelia is my favorite as well and I also love Silver and Morph alongside Jim and his mother. Arrow is great as well in his limited screentime. Only the bug-like pirate was pretty unmemorable. I'm not sure what his part is in the original book because I don't remember it, but in the film I think he was just meant to serve as a obstacle for Jim on several occasions anyway as well as a catalyst for Silver to go ahead with his plan. I consider Silver the true villain of the film anyway, with him also being Disney's first redeemed villain at the end (way before Elsa if you can consider her a villain).

[Disney's Divinity]

I've always liked the film, too, but I've always felt the need to qualify it as "just the Jim/Silver parts of it" because for some reason most people hate the movie.

Amelia isn’t my favorite character though. Jim is my favorite. I remember an old member here, Prudence, who loved Amelia though.

[DisneyFan09]

I'm glad to see other people who appreciates Atlantis, though. Due to it's stamp as a dud, I'm glad to see that there are at least someone who considers it to be good.

As I recall, I found Treasure Planet to be a passable, yet forgettable film when I saw it theatrically. Fortunately I gave it a second chance and I grew to like it a lot, actually. It's a very good film. It starts a little slow, yet the film improves afterwards. What makes the movie for me, are it's visuals and music, which both succeeds very well. The visuals are luminous and the score is great. The screenplay is clever, engaging and smart. The characters are the weakest links. With the exception of Amelia (yes, she's my favorite character due to her spunk and sass) and perhaps Silver, none of them really shines and wins you over. Jim Hawkins is especially a weak lead, having no distinct personality nor spark to distinguish him.

Otherwise, it's a good and overlooked film.

[DisneyEra]

If Atlantis was a "Dud" then The Emperor's New Groove & Brother Bear were also duds. All 3 of these features did virtually the same domestic box office: New Groove: $89 million/Atlantis: $84 million & Brother Bear: $85 million. The true duds were Treasure Planet: $38 million & Home on the Range: $54 million. Only Lilo & Stitch: $141 million was the true hit during the early 2000s. Also, this is something no body for some reason points out, Atlantis made a killing in the Home Media market. As you can see from this old article from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Atlantis reminds me of Alice in Wonderland & Sleeping Beauty, features that bombed during they're first releases in Walt's era, then made money through multiple rereleases & new discovery by fans.

http://old.post-gazette.com/ae/20030717 ... 17fnp2.asp

[DisneyFan09]

What I meant with dud was how it was perceived critically. There's no denial that Atlantis was received poorly critically and that several people does regard it to be bad.

[DisneyEra]

What I meant with dud was how it was perceived critically. There's no denial that Atlantis was received poorly critically and that several people does regard it to be bad.

Oh, well that's just personal opinion. And I can see that, Atlantis was not your typical WDAS feature. But I couldn't care less as to what critics/others think, didn't Walt Disney himself say that Alice had "no heart"? And look at ALL the hate Frozen gets even though it has good reviews. Another example Princess & the Frog, great reviews, but was consider a disappointment by the studio because of it Box Office. Or Wreck it Ralph, was said to be much superior to Pixar's Brave, but made less money & lost the Oscar.

[DisneyFan09]

Well, many people happen to share that personal opinion about Atlantis, as well as reviewers. Unfortunately. So there you have the recipe for the dud stamp. And I remember reading in a trivia book about movies that Alice was one of Walt's favorites (though I'm not sure if those words should've been seen as valid, due to the reputation that Alice has). I haven't payed so much attention to the hate that Frozen has received, but isn't that a backlash due to it's (undeserved) popularity? There are several reasons to dislike Frozen (that I've whined about priorly), so I understand them . And though Wreck-It-Ralph lost the Oscars, at least it was better received critically, by both critics and audiences (who whined about the loss to Brave).

[Disney's Divinity]

@DisneyEra: The large home media sales for traditionally-animated films that did poorly in theaters (like Atlantis) had always lead me to believe the death of hand-drawn animation is down to--or at least in part because of--Disney's greedy direct-to-video output. People began to see hand-drawn animation as synonymous with quick and cheap entertainment--not something you buy a ticket to see in theaters. I believe TP&TF (which already performed 6X its budget, did extremely well in DVD/Blu-Ray/digital sales).

And since I'm here: Jim <333

[DisneyEra]

@DisneyEra: The large home media sales for traditionally-animated films that did poorly in theaters (like Atlantis) had always lead me to believe the death of hand-drawn animation is down to--or at least in part because of--Disney's greedy direct-to-video output. People began to see hand-drawn animation as synonymous with quick and cheap entertainment--not something you buy a ticket to see in theaters. I believe TP&TF (which already performed 6X its budget, did extremely well in DVD/Blu-Ray/digital sales).

And since I'm here: Jim <333

I always found the "Cheapquels" as they were called to be harmless entertainment though. Yea, most weren't good, but I liked seeing Ariel/Eric as parents in TLM2. But it is very clear that these films upset a lot of fans in general. They were insulting to them at a time when 2D animation was falling hard. But Disney kept making them because they did make money. Disney was exploiting 2D animation instead of advancing it. And the rise of Shrek/Ice Age & Pixar, 2D animation just wasn't worth investing into anymore.

As for TP&TF, it did very well overall, but not enough for the Executives to be impressed. They probably were looking at Aladdin-like Box Office numbers. Then just a year later Tangled happened, and here we are today...

[Sotiris]

D23 Celebrates 15 Years of Treasure Planet with Directors Ron Clements and John Musker
https://d23.com/d23-celebrates-15-years ... hn-musker/

10 Things You Didn't Know About Treasure Planet
https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2015/11/ ... re-planet/

Treasure Planet: 80 Original Concept Art Collection
http://www.iamag.co/features/treasure-p ... ollection/

The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet - Part One
https://www.mouseplanet.com/12440/The_S ... __Part_One

The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet - Part Two
https://www.mouseplanet.com/12446/The_S ... __Part_Two