Treasure Planet is a 2002 American animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a science fiction adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel Treasure Island (1883), and it is the third retelling of the story in an outer space setting, following the Bulgarian film Treasure Planet (1982) and the Italian miniseries Treasure Island in Outer Space (1987). It is the third Disney adaptation of the novel, following Treasure Island (1950) and Muppet Treasure Island (1996). In the film's setting, spaceships are powered by solar sails and resemble the 18th-century sailing vessels of the original Treasure Island.
The film was co-written, produced and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, and features the voices of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Roscoe Lee Browne, Emma Thompson, Michael Wincott, Laurie Metcalf, and Patrick McGoohan. The musical score was composed by James Newton Howard, while some songs were written and performed by John Rzeznik. It marks Clements and Musker's first non-musical film since The Great Mouse Detective (1986). The duo pitched the concept for the film at the same time, where they worked on another Disney animated feature, The Little Mermaid (1989). After they finished their work on Hercules (1997), development of the film officially began. It employs a novel technique of hand-drawn 2D traditional animation set atop 3D computer animation. With a budget of $140 million, it is the most expensive traditionally animated film to date.
Treasure Planet premiered in Paris, France and Cinerama Dome on November 6 and 17, 2002, and received a wide theatrical release on November 27. It was the first film to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters. The film was a box-office bomb, earning $109 million worldwide against a budget of $140 million, but received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards but lost to Spirited Away (2001). The film has gained a cult following.
Plot[]
On the planet of Montressor, young Jim Hawkins is enchanted by stories of space pirate Captain Flint and his ability to strike suddenly and disappear without a trace, hiding his loot on the fabled "Treasure Planet". Twelve years later, Jim has grown into an aloof troublemaker after his father abandoned him when he was a child. He reluctantly helps his mother Sarah run the Benbow Inn and is caught by the police after recklessly skysurfing with a rocket-powered sailboard. A spaceship crashes near the inn, and the dying pilot, Billy Bones, gives Jim a sphere and warns him to "beware the cyborg". Pirates attack and burn down the inn, and Jim flees with his mother and their friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler. Jim discovers that the sphere contains a holographic star map leading to the location of Treasure Planet and decides to seek out the legendary fortune.
Doppler commissions the ship RLS Legacy, commanded by feline Captain Amelia and stone-skinned first mate Mr. Arrow. The ship's motley crew is led by cyborg cook John Silver, whose cybernetics lead Jim to suspect he is the person Bones warned him about. After being sent to work in the galley, Jim is supervised by Silver and his shape-shifting pet, Morph, and they form a tenuous father-son like relationship. When the ship encounters a supernova, Jim secures the crew's lifelines. As a black hole forms, ruthless insectoid crew member Scroop cuts Mr. Arrow's lifeline, sending him to his death. As the ship rides the shock waves to safety, Scroop frames Jim for Mr. Arrow's death by lying about his lifeline being unsecure, and Jim is comforted by Silver.
Upon reaching Treasure Planet, Jim discovers the crew are indeed pirates led by Silver, and a mutiny erupts. Doppler, Amelia, and Morph abandon ship, and Jim retrieves the map. Silver cannot bring himself to shoot Jim, allowing him to escape with the others; another pirate shoots the escapees down, injuring Amelia. Jim discovers that the map is Morph in disguise, with the real map still on the ship. The group meets B.E.N., an abandoned navigational robot who used to belong to Flint, and now is missing his primary memory circuit. After being cornered by the pirates, Jim, Morph, and B.E.N. hijack a longboat and return to the Legacy to retrieve the map. Scroop attacks them, but B.E.N. accidentally disables the artificial gravity, and Jim kicks Scroop overboard into deep space. Upon returning, they are caught by Silver and his crew, who have captured Doppler and Amelia.
Silver forces Jim to use the map, directing them to a portal that opens to any location in the known universe with the map as its controls, which Flint used to conduct his raids. They open the portal to the core of Treasure Planet, which is actually an ancient space station built by a forgotten culture Flint commandeered to stow his treasure. The pirates enter and begin collecting the loot, while Jim finds the skeleton of Captain Flint, holding B.E.N.'s missing circuit in its hand. Jim reinstalls the part into B.E.N.'s head, and B.E.N. remembers that Flint rigged the planet to explode upon the treasure's discovery. As the planet collapses, Silver attempts to escape with a boatload of treasure, but abandons it to save Jim. The survivors board the Legacy, which becomes damaged and unable to go fast enough to clear the explosion. Jim rigs a makeshift sailboard and rides ahead, setting the portal to Montressor Spaceport, and Doppler steers the Legacy through the portal to safety.
Jim finds Silver below decks and allows him to escape. Silver gives Jim Morph and half the treasure he managed to take so he can rebuild the Benbow Inn, believing Jim will "rattle the stars". Sometime later, a party is hosted at the rebuilt and improved Benbow Inn; Doppler and Amelia are married with quadruplets; B.E.N. has become a waiter at the inn; and Jim, matured under Silver's mentorship, has become a cadet at the Interstellar Academy through a letter of recommendation from Amelia. He then looks to the skies and sees an image of Silver in the clouds.
Cast[]
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jim Hawkins, an adolescent adventurer.
- Austin Majors voices Jim as a child.
- Brian Murray as John Silver, a cyborg bear-like alien who leads the mutiny on the RLS Legacy.
- David Hyde Pierce as Dr. Delbert Doppler, a dog-like astronomer. He is a combination of Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney from Treasure Island.
- Emma Thompson as Captain Amelia, the feline captain of the RLS Legacy. She is an analog to Captain Alexander Smollett in Treasure Island.
- Martin Short as B.E.N., an alien robot who has lost his memory and was abandoned on Treasure Planet by Captain Flint. His name is a reference to Treasure Island's Ben Gunn, on whom he is based.
- Roscoe Lee Browne as Mr. Arrow, Captain Amelia's first mate.
- Laurie Metcalf as Sarah Hawkins, Jim Hawkins' mother who runs the Benbow Inn.
- Dane Davis as Morph, a small pink alien that can morph into any form. He is comparable to the pet parrot owned by Silver in the original Treasure Island.
- Michael Wincott as Scroop, a vicious spider-like crewman on the RLS Legacy. He is a rough analog to Israel Hands in Treasure Island.
- Patrick McGoohan as Billy Bones, a sailor who owned the map to Treasure Planet.
- Peter Cullen (uncredited) as Captain Nathaniel Flint, a legendary space pirate seen at the beginning of the film.
- Tony Jay as the Narrator
- Jane Carr as Mrs. Dunwitty, one of the customers at the Benbow Inn.
- Corey Burton as Onus, the lookout in the crew of the RLS Legacy.
- Mike McShane as Hands, a Behemoth-like crewman on the RLS Legacy.
- Rodger Bumpass and Jack Angel as Police Robots, law enforcement officers on Montressor.
- Bumpass and Angel also voice Gwenge and Turnbuckle, crewmen on the RLS Legacy.