Treasure Planet

[Logan Hartke]

It's over a decade old now and what many would consider a "kids" movie, but last night I rewatched Treasure Planet for one of the first times since it came out.



It's not the best Disney movie or even the best Disney interpretation of Treasure Island, but it really is fantastic.  The changes to the story aren't bad and the setting could be described as "Age of Sail Steampunk in Space".  For example, the reinterpretation of the Captain as a female catperson works surprising well.



The score by James Newton Howard is absolutely fantastic.  Disney's never released a bad Treasure Island score.  The combination of traditional animation and CGI is gorgeous and the voice acting is high quality as usual from Disney animated features.  Regardless of what you think about the quality of the story, music, voice acting, etc., what I think people on this forum will like is the setting and visuals.  Just look at some of these screenshots from it.



http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/treasure-planet-blu-ray-disc-review/

By the way, I watched it for free on Netflix, so if you have Netflix, that's the way to go.

Cheers,

Logan

[Vuk]

Couldn't agree more... and I'm consider myself a hard-core sci-fi fan! I watched this movie couple of times, and always enjoyed it.

Greetings!

[Logan Hartke]

I'm a big fan of Treasure Island, too.  I loved the book growing up.  The 1950 Disney live action film is fantastic.  Robert Newton's Long John Silver is not only the performance by which all others are mentioned, he's really the inspiration for the majority of film pirates that have come after him--whether they realize it or not.  "Talk Like a Pirate Day" should just be renamed "Talk Like Robert Newton in Treasure Island Day" because that's what it really is.



The score for the 1950 film was absolutely fantastic and the film looks great.  It's probably the quintessential "Treasure Island" film.

That having been said, Muppet Treasure Island is so much fun.  The Muppets are great as usual.  The lines are fantastic, and Tim Curry is surprisingly believable in the role of Long John.  Let's be honest, Long John makes or breaks Treasure Island.  The songs are great and the score is fantastic.  Seriously.  Go back and watch it again.  Hans Zimmer's score for the film was just a trial run for the themes he would eventually fully develop for the Pirates of the Caribbean film.

Disney's produced three VERY good

Cheers,

Logan

[Vuk]

Aviation art, sci-fi, Treasure island, Muppets, Hans Zimmer's music,...  :)

Just ad the 20 000 leagues under the sea to the list and I begin to think that we're some kind of long distant relatives.

Mentioning the Muppets, You've returned me to the childhood. Although my wife sometimes said that I have never grown up.

[Logan Hartke]

We must be related, then, because I love 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Honestly, just as "talk like a pirate" can be traced back pretty well to Robert Newton so too can the visuals we associate with "steampunk" be traced back to Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  The Nautilus looked fantastic, right down to the awesome costumes.

The music for the film is fantastic and I have the soundtrack for it, as well.  As far as the casting and acting goes, Peter Lorre is entertaining in anything he's in and Paul Lukas and Kirk Douglas are still who I think of when I think of Professor Arronax and Ned Land, respectively.  But, just as Robert Newton stole the screen as Long John and set the standard by which all future actors who play the role are measured, James Mason was the perfect Captain Nemo.  He was the center of every scene he was in and is by far the best Nemo performance to date.



The ending of the film is different from the book (along with a lot of other things), but it works.  In fact, I prefer the movie ending in some ways.  The death of Nemo in the film is very dramatic and fitting for the character.

Cheers,

Logan

[Vuk]

Well, I must admit that I haven't watched the old movie.

However, 20 000 leagues... was my first serious book ever. I still remember... I received the book as birthday gift when I was only 7 years old. In first, I was confused with a fat small book without any picture in it, but the front cover illustration was looking so magical to me. So, I began to read, and... I couldn't stop.In a way, this book was an entrance to the fantasy/sci-fi world for me... and what an entrance.

The death of Nemo? Well, he was undying hero to me (besides, Jules Verne  brought him back in The Mysterious Island).

I've red recently that remake of classic movie is in plans and it supposed to be filmed in Australia. I have no further info about it.

I salute You.

[raafif]

Well, I must admit that I haven't watched the old movie.

However, 20 000 leagues... was my first serious book ever. I still remember... I received the book as birthday gift when I was only 7 years old. In first, I was confused with a fat small book without any picture in it, but the front cover illustration was looking so magical to me. So, I began to read, and... I couldn't stop.In a way, this book was an entrance to the fantasy/sci-fi world for me... and what an entrance.

The death of Nemo? Well, he was undying hero to me (besides, Jules Verne  brought him back in The Mysterious Island).

I've red recently that remake of classic movie is in plans and it supposed to be filmed in Australia. I have no further info about it.

If you like 20,000 Leagues the best ever film version is the Disney one with James Mason as Nemo.  There are many bad versions including a few from Disney.  The latest book is good but a bit "James Bond"-ish.

Here's my take (unfinished novel I started writing) .....
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=2656.0

[father ennis]

Very good movies indeed but let's not forget Master of the World. It's another of those classic films in the same genere .