I continue my series of notes about Disney movies which I watch again after years. Since the most important Disney titles I watch in a fairly regular way is the time for less known, but loved by me and my daughter. This time I will talk about the "Treasure Planet”. One of the biggest financial failures of Disney. And also one of the nicer films the studio has ever produced.
The history of the creation of the "Treasure Planet” or - as the project for many years was called - "Islands of Treasure in Space" is one of those stories about how the process of creating a film can ultimately affect his reception. For the first time, the idea to bring Stevenson's popular adventure novel to the screen in the form of full-length animation appeared in the late 1980s, when the studio was just producing the now-forgotten movie "Taran and the Magical Cauldron". Ultimately, it was decided to shoot the "Great Mouse Detective". Later, the creators wanted to come back to the idea - the problem is that they presented it at the same meeting as the proposal to make the Little Mermaid. It is not hard to be surprised that the Little Mermaid won. Since that date the Disney renaissance from it, which throughout the 1990s has provided better and more interesting from the point of view of the young viewer, but also critics and films. Eventually, work on the ”Treasure Planet” began in the late 90s (according to the promise, the studio allowed them to start only after the originators directed Hercules) and the film itself went to theaters in 2002. Almost twenty years after this idea appeared for the first time in the minds of the creators.
It is not difficult to see that the backgraund in the world of animation has changed completely over the last twenty years. Apart from the growing popularity of Pixara and 3D animation (Treasure Planet though it contains elements of computer animation, most of it is animated with a classic line), the approach to the subject matter and ideas that are evolving in animations has also changed. The Treasure Planet appeared in cinemas after they did not only pass through the most famous films of the golden Disney era - such as Mulan, Hercules, or the Lion King, but also extremely interesting from the point of view of animated films, the beginning of the century. Shrek (2001) changed approach to what is being seen in animated production (at the same time showing the strength of jokes directed to an adult viewer), distributed by Disney Spirited Away introduced a wider audience with the amazing animation world of Ghibli studio. Even the animations like Lilo and Stitch or Atlantis preceding the Treasure Planet departed from the very traditional model of an adventure film for young people, going not only in terms of action, but also visually in a completely new direction. Against this background, the "Treasure Island in Space" is an old-fashioned idea, in which the creators wanted to breathe new spirit, but eventually, they found a very classic story with a very typical, not to say - neuter hero.
Interestingly, for many viewers the greatest challenge was, in general, the main concept of the Treasure Planet that combined XIX century aesthetics (the creators were inspired mainly by illustrations to adventure novels from the XIX and early XX century) with a story taking place in space. From the perspective of fans of fantasy or SF, the vision of sailing ships passing through the cosmos is not difficult to accept. Devotees steampunk point the film as one of the few mainstream productions where you can find elements of inspiration with this aesthetics. It also seems that many viewers somehow connected with fandom are well aware that such aesthetics should not be given too much logic until the vision is internally consistent. Unfortunately, this attitude turns out to be not so common. Beginning with eminent critics (Roger Ebert gave the film only two stars because of the fact that in his opinion the film was pointless) to ordinary viewers, there is a conviction that sailboats in space are confusing and if the film takes place in space, why not viewers of real spacecraft were treated. In my opinion, these problems of the part of the audience show how harmful it is to associate specific film genres with only one predetermined aesthetics. The more you experiment, the more interesting stories you can show to viewers who understand them better. Another thing - maybe crossing the genre borders works better in niche films than in Disney's widely distributed production.
Since we are already discussing the causes of the disaster, it is also worth mentioning that the Treasure Palnet appeared in cinemas at the worst possible moment. Sure, every movie has to compete with others in the box office but Planet has an exceptionally difficult to overcome opponent that is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Admittedly, the distribution of the film was set so that the Treasure Planet entered the theaters three weeks after the second installment of Potter, but in the case of such a significant production as the screening of the Rowling novel, still three weeks is not enough for the film to use all its potential. Especially since the Planet entered the theaters during the weekend in the Halloween area, which makes me think that probably the kids would then go even the second time to Potter than to the Treasure Planet. Especially that we should not hide - in the early 2000s, Stevenson's book was no longer the basic favorite childhood reading for most kids. Anyway, the interest in Pirates was to come again - The Curse of the Black Pearl appeared in cinemas in the following year - perhaps if it was different, also the film about pirates in space would enjoy greater interest. Meanwhile, the Treasure Planet entered theaters in a period when one of Hollywood's golden rules was "Do not make movies about Pirates, they only bring losses." It is worth noting, because although the Planet is not devoid of flaws (about which in a moment), however, a very big influence on its reception has the exact moment in which it appeared in cinemas. Something we sometimes forget about when evaluating even more important films for cinematography.
Okay, but the question arises - is Treasure Planet a good movie that has become a victim of its time or maybe there is something to do when the box office shows a big defeat. I'll say it right away - it's not a bad movie like it's indicative of its financial results. This is one of the most beautiful animated Disney movies, over which the spirit of a great adventure floats. These huge sailing ships in space are simply marvelous and surfing among the clouds has its charm. In addition, some good soundtrack of John Newton Howard and the man continues to sail through the seas and galaxies. This is also not a bad film in terms of extracting from the original novel the most important and the most interesting. In this case - the unobvious figure of John Silver and his relationship with the protagonist Jim. It is impossible to hide that the friendship between a clever pirate and a young boy was written perfectly. Also the fact that the film followed the book showing the scheming pirate as a very ambiguous character - I like it very much. If you think about it is a very unusual topic for Disney because Jim did not lose his father in an accident or in a catastrophe - he is just a child from a family in which his father left and left him alone with his mother. Hence, the frustrations of the main character can be definitely closer to the contemporary viewer, especially from a broken family, and the search for a substitute father carries a very useful social science behind that the role of the father is not reserved only for the biological father. This is a perfectly written theme, well played and with a lot of heart. Even deprived of any deeper character traits, Jim performs best in scenes with John Silver where a kid who starts to come out from under a rebellious teenager who would only like someone to appreciate him, hug him and show him what to do next.
Unfortunately, here, in fact, good ideas end in the film. Not because the creators changed too much in relation to the original. On the contrary, in spite of the whole fantastic envelope, they offered the viewers a story quite simple, so simple that it was not very emotional. What's more - a bit contrary to the times, it was told with a surprisingly small dose of humor. For the jokes in the second part of the movie is to be responsible B.E.N - left on the planet treasure robot. Unfortunately, this kind of witty character who speaks too much and too quickly in 2002 was quite outdated and even today seems to be taken from a completely different order of telling stories. Besides humor is not too much. We have a rather simple story for it, which might be more attractive if not for the fact that we know it well enough - because even if we do not read the Treasure Island, we know more or less the outline of the plot. Well enough not to feel too surprised by the solution. For this movie has a problem with the hero, who is simply an ordinary rebellious teenager. There are not too many individual traits in him, he rebels because he rebels and then quite easily becomes a hero. This character is very schematic and does not even have much to say. You can also see that the creators had a problem with the gender issue. There are actually no women in Stevenson's novel. The film decided to introduce the character of Captain Amelia - which is actually perfectly written. This is a confident, very competent captain of the ship on which our heroes travel. But at the same time, at the end of the film, this super-competent character is injured and must be taken care of by Doctor Doppler, which makes the film fall out of the narrative through a large part of the movie. Interestingly - if we're talking about sex, because heroes - Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler are aliens, the filmmakers had an interesting idea. At the end, when we see them with offspring, a line of text appeared suggesting that the children were born not by Capitan Amelia but by the doctor. In the end, they are aliens. Unfortunately, the studio decided that such an idea would be too complicated for children and was abandoned before the film was made. It's a pity because it would be a wonderful novelty.
I am not going to hide that watching the movie myself was first of all surprised at how much Jim - the main character, is a colorless figure and written in accordance with all the possible clichés of an adventure story about a young hero. The scenes of the film included scenes that were to convince us that the boy, besides the tendency to pack in trouble, is also characterized by a good heart. In the end, we got quite a typical rebellious teenager who, when thrown on the ship, immediately finds a mentor, quickly learns the ship's life and is so wonderful and resourceful that it is difficult to find in it a more "human" feature. It means yes, it has a moment of collapse - when it shows that it is a lost teenager but it is a drop in the sea. And you know, there is nothing to the hero as such - it seems that it is not inferior to any character from the typical adventure production of the ’80s. Well, but just, the movie was made in the 2000s where probably the audience has already begun to expect slightly different heroes. Less resourceful, less competent, making more mistakes. Well, they have some more distinctive character traits, and certainly a lot more sense of humor. Again, it is not the fault of the film itself, as we have already mentioned - the idea lay in the Disney freezer nearly twenty years. During this time, Disney itself, contributed to the formation of completely new requirements for heroes. There were also some changes to the secondary characters and the viewer would expect that next to the really good John Silver the remaining characters will get a bit more attention. Meanwhile, the character of Captain Amelia - though well thought out (and played by Emma Thompson!) really has very little space in the whole action. As it used to be with the figures in the background.
One of the most interesting elements of the "Treasure Planet” is the fact that it is a film in which there is no classic villain. John Silver is not really bad at all. Perhaps the only real bad one would be Flint, but in this version of history we are not dealing with members of his crew, but with people looking for a legendary treasure. Flint was a cruel pirate and he set traps on his planet, but no one has personal debts with him. Thus, the main opponents of the hero are the evil pirate ship crew - although here, in addition to one nasty worm, the rest makes a rather pleasant impression. Thus, the opponent is not there. It would be good for the film, but unfortunately, in the end, this authentic enemy is missing. For example, the film probably ends with a certain profession for many viewers. Of course, it's good to keep John Silver's departure, but the whole story - rather than the immersive original - falls quite flat. At the same time, I place this not only on the lack of an opponent but also on a consistent idea of how to tell this old story anew. Because this is a film problem - despite space and ships flying in a quadrangle, still more here XIX century Stevenson than SF. Maybe if somehow you tried to play this space and the future - instead of using it only as a decoration, then something better would come out. The biggest disadvantage of the Planet is that it is just a Treasure Island in Space itself. And this is not such a good idea as it seems to the creators.
Having said that, despite many mistakes and omissions, I have a huge sentiment to this film. Mainly because of how wonderfully it is animated. But as I mentioned before, this is not a bad movie. It has good music, in total only one song and well run some threads, it also has a nice female character, which was not advertised but was a novelty in the world of Disney, because the captain was not in animated films then, and of course the whole steampunk atmosphere. And at the same time, interestingly - I found an analysis which the author pointed out that animated SF films very rarely turn out to be successful. Regardless of who produced them, what technique and when exactly went to the cinemas. So maybe the biggest problem with the Treasure Island in Space is the fact that the audience does not love animated space like that at all. Although it's strange and unpleasant, because animated space gives really limitless possibilities. In any case, in the big question - whether the Treasure Planet is as bad as its results in the box office, you can safely say - no. But for the answer - whether the Treasure Planet is such a film, what better to arise twenty years earlier, the answer is - probably yes. And so much about space ships. And the next item on the list will be ... Atlantis. This is just an example of an interesting financial failure. But about this in a while.