Synopsis

Restless teen Jim Hawkins goes on a fantastic journey across the universe as cabin boy aboard a majestic space galleon. Befriended by the ship's charismatic cyborg cook, John Silver, Jim blossoms under his guidance and shows the makings of a fine shipmate as he and the alien crew battle a supernova, a black hole, and a ferocious space storm. But even greater dangers lie ahead when Jim discovers that Silver is actually a scheming pirate with mutiny on his mind.

Critique

Treasure Planet sailed to theaters on a $140 million budget and grossed only a mere $38 million. Perhaps word of mouth or awareness didn’t spread far enough among the kids and parents, but the film is now available for home video entertainment. Treasure Planet is a futuristic, animated update of Disney’s Treasure Island film from 1950s and of Robert Louis Stevenson fame. This animated film is directed by John Musker & Ron Clements (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid) and combines hand-drawn animation with CGI. The story is simple, but guarantees the element of adventure. However, the story also feels just a little too recycled. What I mean is the characters, jokes, and plot elements are very familiar and therefore they don’t offer much in originality. The story in itself is a bit too shallow, because there is only one major subplot, which involves Silver’s true intentions. Even for an animated film there needs to be more substance than that.

The character of Jim Hawkins is somewhat shallow as well and he’s not capable to carry the story on his shoulders. Much needed support comes from second-hand characters such as Doctor Doppler (Pierce) and John Silver (Murray). Treasure Planet also features two funny characters, specifically the fish-like shape shifter Morph (Dane A. Davis) and robot B.E.N. (Martin Short). However, they only make the film sillier. Morph is a nice sidekick, but when he ends up taking center stage during a pivotal escape scene I just couldn’t buy into it. The same goes for B.E.N. who shows up an hour into the film. To sum it up, the characters should have been developed with more care and detail for them to impact the story in a way that we care about. Good jokes and dialogue tend to bring more life to most of the characters, but it is not enough.

The animation in Treasure Planet’s is pretty good. In fact, according to IMDB.com, "three types of animation are used simultaneously in some scenes. The human characters are hand-drawn. The ship is CGI. John Silver's mechanical arm and the robot BEN are dry-cell shaded." The animation also adds a nice color palette and intricate detail. Action scenes, specifically the black hole sequence and the climax escape at the end, are especially well executed. Every Disney song also carries with it a tune or song. Here John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls lends his talent to the theme song and I liked it quite a bit. The overall execution of Treasure Planet is handled very well and should be awarded in one way or another. However, the film does loose its focus among the characters and there is no other way around the recycled story elements. Treasure Planet is a fun adventure film, but it lacks necessary ingredients to make the adventure worth every minute.

7 out of 10

Video

Treasure Planet is presented in 1.66:1 aspect ratio anamorphic widescreen in addition to a fullscreen version. The film looks very good on DVD as it received a digital-to-digital transfer. I didn’t notice any distractions or imperfections of the transfer. The animation greatly impacts the picture quality in terms of clarity and bright colors. Depth and color detail are magnificent, except for a few instances of irregularities.

9 out of 10

Audio

Disney presents Treasure Planet in THX-certified Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The surround sound really goes to work here and I’m surprised the treatment works as well as it does. Two other audio options include Spanish and French Dolby Digital Stereo, but neither of them comes close to the Dolby 5.1 track.

8 out of 10

Extras

Visual Commentary by the Producers & Directors – It’s an interesting conversation about the film and other things. This visual commentary reveals the "making-of" process with additional footage as you watch the film. Only select this feature if you have seen the film beforehand otherwise you’ll get interrupted too often to be able to follow the film. In summation, this feature offers a really fun insight into the behind-the-scenes of the film.

Deleted/Alternate Scenes And Original Prologue – Six minutes worth of additional footage is presented here and most of it is actually pretty good, but no commentary is offered in the place of these so there are no explanations as to why these were left on the cutting room floor.

Other special features include Disney's Animation Magic-Go Behind the Scenes With Walt Disney Feature Animation Chairman Roy Disney, DisneyPedia: The Life Of A Pirate Revealed, and RLS Legacy: An Exploration Adventure Game-Take A Virtual 3-D Tour of the Ship and Be Challenged To the Ultimate Treasure Hunt. A really nice addition is the music video performed by John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls. In addition, English subtitles are available. The menus are fully animated, but the menu introduction takes way too long. Menu navigation is easy, but your patience might be tested after a while. The 95-minute feature is organized into 20 chapter stops.

8 out of 10

Overall

Treasure Planet is a fun adventure film, but it lacks necessary ingredients to make the adventure worth every minute. Characters don’t make a big enough impact even though the animation is top notch. Disney’s treatment of the video and audio transfer is very good and the list of supplements makes this DVD a true special edition even though it is not labeled as such. Treasure Planet comes recommended to the younger crowd and for everyone else a rental should be considered.

Overall DVD Rating: 7 out of 10 (not an average)

Dennis Landmann
www.moviefreak.com