43 – Treasure Planet
Today's story is yet another story
based off a famous novel. 2002's Treasure Planet,
based on “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a story
about a young rebellious boy named Jim Hawkins who finds a treasure
map that leads to the fabled Treasure Planet. This planet contains
all the treasures plundered by the famous Captain Flint. He decides
to make up to his mother for his rebellious actions by venturing off
to find the treasure so he can rebuild their Inn that was destroyed
by pirates trying to find the treasure map. The journey is funded by
Dr. Delbert Doppler, their friend. On the ship they meet Captain
Amelia and her first mate Mr. Arrow. Also on the ship are the rest of
the crew and John Silver, the cook, who may have some hidden
intentions. Silver is actually planning a mutiny and wants the
treasure for himself. He gets close to Jim to find the map but finds
himself actually starting to care about him. Jim has to find the
treasure while Silver struggles with his lifelong goal of finding the
treasure and his new found friendship with Jim.
Jim
comes off as a bit of a brat at first. He is very adventurous and
rebellious and gets in trouble a lot. This all stems from when his
father left their family when he was young. I really didn't like him
at all at first. His mother tries very hard to raise him correctly
but can't seem to control him or figure out how to help him. When Jim
gets the opportunity to set things right, he decides to take it. He
really goes through a ton of change on the journey. He learns to be
more willing to take orders from people and follow directions. This
all comes from his complex relationship with Silver, who he really
sees as a father type figure. He starts off very hopeless about his
future but Silver helps him change his mind and see that he can make
his own future.
Delbert
is a dog like alien who is very geeky and clumsy. He starts off as
basic comic relief but gets better as the story moves on. He clearly
cares about Jim and Sarah but wants to go on the adventure too.
Captain Amelia is very serious and brave. She is a good leader and
has a good relationship with her first mate, Mr. Arrow. Mr. Arrow is
very good at his job but is sabotages partway through and ends up
dying. Arrow and Amelia don't really get much development and they
end up being kind of boring. They also shoehorn a stupid romance
between Amelia and Delbert which just doesn't work at all.
Silver
is a very complex villain. His lifelong goal is to find Flint's
treasure. He gets close to Jim but finds that he is actually starting
to care about him, which really worries him because he knows it might
interfere with his goals. They really become a bit like father and
son and he teaches and supports Jim. Their relationship is tested
many times when Silver has to choose between his own motivations and
Jim. The crew that follows him are more of the standard minion type
characters we've seen in Disney movies. None of them are of real note
except possibly Scroop, an insect like alien, who is more prominent
and cuts Arrows lifeline, sending him into space. Silver's character
design could have been better. He just looks a bit too much like a
standard Disney Villain.
Morph
is a gelatinous character who serves as Silver's pet. He can morph,
hence his name, into almost anything and provides mostly comic
relief. I thought he was kind of dumb at first but he has some funny
moments and he grew on me. B.E.N. On the other hand is a robot that
they find at Treasure Planet halfway through the movie. He was there
when Flint left the treasure so he knows some information about it.
Otherwise he is just a really awful, dumb character. All he does are
stupid things that get the other characters into trouble and is just
loud and annoying. He comes from that awful breed of bad comic relief
characters that fall close to Jar Jar territory.
He
animation in this movie is good, as usual, but the CGI didn't mesh as
well with the traditional animation as it usually does. The Sci-Fi-
elements are pretty hit or miss with some just feeling totally
unnecessary, like a locket that holds a hologram instead of a
picture. A lot of it was just too gimmicky, though some was pretty
cool like the treasure map opening up and showing projections of all
the planets. The humor is similarly hit or miss, though it leans
towards miss more often. There's a fart alien. I don't think I need
to say any more. The score worked fine but the songs just didn't
really mesh for me. John Rzeznik's rock songs just didn't fit with
the world they were trying to create. It also bugs me that they fast
forwarded through Jim and Silver bonding with a montage. The action
scenes are really good, however, especially the final action scene.
It has all the makings of a great, tense action scene with a timer
ticking down, explosions all around them, and the heroes making a
last ditch escape.
The
themes in this movie aren't handled as well as Lilo &
Stitch but some of it was pretty
good. Jim and Silver's relationship was really handed well. Jim
starts off feeling very hopeless about his future but Silver helps
him realize that he needs to keep fighting for it. Meanwhile, Silver
is struggling because he's starting to think that the goal he's been
fighting for his whole like might not be what he really needs. I
really like the scenes where Silver has to wrestle with his desire
for fulfilling his dream and his relationship with Jim. Jim also goes
through a great change and you really feel like he has learned
something. There is a bit of a loose thread with Jim's father and I
wish they had done something with that. The only thing that really
didn't work for me was Amelia and Delbert's relationship.
The
movie definitely wasn't terrible. It made sense, had great action
scenes and had a really interesting and complex villain. The
relationship between Jim and Silver was definitely the highlight.
Seeing them change and grow was really well done. There were,
however, also a ton of unneeded things. Some of the Sci-Fi elements
were a bit forced. B.E.N. Was just awful. The Shoehorned romance
really didn't work at all. Overall, it merged the classic ideas of
“Treasure Island” and classic pirates really well with the
futuristic stuff and would be a good way to introduce people to a
great story
43
down. 10 to go.
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