A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Treasure Planet

Date Viewed: 12/01/02

Details:

Voice talents: Brian Murray

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Emma Thompson

David Hyde Pierce

Martin Short

Patrick McGoohan

Directors: Ron Clements and John Musker

Score: 0

The Review: It's a shame that such a good display of classical manual animation technique is coupled with such an odd story line -- translating Robert Louis Stevenson's popular "Treasure Island" into the indefinite space-faring future. The concept doesn't really work, and the required suspension of disbelief is substantially more than can be reasonably expected. And if the story fails, the movie will fail -- and this time, likely, taking the Disney animation team with it. More's the pity; this was an ill-advised pairing of good technique -- the animation and character design is excellent -- with a bad screenplay. But there is a spark of interest, perhaps the spark that is banked in the heart of anyone with a mind open to adventure -- the people for whom "Treasure Island" is a good memory.

Yes, there's some (minimal) lip service given to the rationale for re-designing spacecraft to have hulls, sails ("solar sails"), and propulsion. But the artificial gravity is used trivially instead of for propulsion, breathing air in interstellar space is "just there," and the law of gravitation is so perverted as to be unrecognizable. On the other hand, there are lots of throwaway in-jokes that I've begun to see are common to the Disney house sense of humor: e.g., the vessel on which Jim ships out is the R.L.S. Legacy. These provide for more subtle amusement of the adults in the audience, if they pay attention.

I'd promised myself to re-read Stevenson's novel before seeing the movie, but never got around to it. This is probably a good thing, in one respect, as my comparison with this movie would probably have been even harsher were the original still fresh in my mind.

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