DAC 43: Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet - 7.9/10

Why is this in space? I mean, Treasure Island is easy enough to make an adaptation of, so why in space? It's not that it made the movie bad or anything, I just can't think of a reason why it was necessary. I will say this: the stylistic choices they made, while mind-boggling in their anachronisity, were not bad. They went all out giving the universe of this film its own feel, and I definitely prefer it over what could have been had they gone with just straight-up spaceships and the like. The space-sailing thing with 17th century-looking future tech was very schizo and it saved this movie from total mediocrity, I think. But when the most interesting parts of a film are the aspects of its imagery, it's only going to carry so far.

The animation was good too, I'll give it that. Everything was crisp and clear, very smooth movements, and the CGI was blended pretty well. In particular I liked the frantic pacing of various chase-like scenes when the camera tracked the characters around bends, up and over obstacles, etc.. Very exciting and fun to watch.

The characters themselves were...okay. An interesting dynamic with the antagonist here in that the hero defeats him not by killing him or tricking him into something, but by befriending him and softening his heart. A different take for Disney and I only wish they'd done more with it. There was so much potential here in the Jim/Silver relationship that was touched on but never fully explored. Perhaps more than any other Disney film I felt like I was looking at something good that could have been great if they'd just tried a little harder.

Emma Thompson was clever and funny as the captain, and actually very reminiscent of Minnie Driver's Jane. Too bad she didn't have a very big role. The only really annoying character was a broken down robot, but thankfully he doesn't show up until the third act and he's not in it much, either. Most of the other characters were pretty forgettable. In fact, that pretty much sums up this movie as a whole: forgettable. It was fun and entertaining I guess, but I'm not gonna remember much about it tomorrow. I know I certainly didn't remember much of anything about it (save the really cool designs) from the only other time I watched it, several years ago now. It was neither good enough nor bad enough to stand out in my memory in any way. It's just kind of...there. And that's the biggest shame of all, because they could have done so much more with it.