It’s been nearly 20 years since Ron Clements and John Musker’s passionate, sci-fi reimagining of the classic novella “Treasure Island” set its sails for the silver screen to become the biggest box office flop the company had seen since “The Black Cauldron.” “Treasure Island” was the two Disney veterans’ expensive passion project, one that lost the company $74 million due to its high production value and low turnout at the box office, according to ScreenRant. Was the film’s failure and slow fade into the background of Disney history deserved? Not by a long shot.
The film was a stunning marvel and success in (almost) every aspect. It was one of Disney’s last hurrahs at 2-D animation while also expertly blending new technologies like Deep Canvas and 3-D. Deep Canvas is software that was created by Disney in order to create dynamic model backgrounds that had the same features as 3-D animation. The bonus was that the program allowed animators to not only work quicker but also provide shots that were akin to live action steady cameras, giving any scene using Deep Canvas a depth and complexity that was often hard to replicate with traditional 2-D animation. While this software was used before in “Tarzan,” “Treasure Planet” was the first film to use it in majority of its scenes, given that the breathtaking ship Jim Hawkins spends his journey on was comprised entirely using Deep Canvas. 3-D animation was used in the complexities of Silver’s cybernetic parts of his body and is what brought the robot B.E.N to life. While this proved to be incredibly expensive, all three forms of animation used in conjuncture with the interstellar art design which gave the film so much beautiful texture and dimension that it created was incredibly breathtaking.
As “Treasure Planet” was a reimaging of the novel which was set in the mid 18th century, Clements and Musker decided to take the term “space pirates” and make it as literal as possible. The spaceship Jim boards is a literal ship adorned with rigging and solar sails and rocket thrusters. In replacement of a peg leg and an eyepatch Silver is a swashbuckling cyborg. Space itself gained the “Etherium” which is a layer of space that consists of breathable air in which life such as giant space whales float like stars amongst the various ships that frequent its solar waves. The score was a beautiful combination of orchestra, shanty-like music and two fantastic alternative songs by The Goo Goo Doll’s John Rzeznik and BBMak.
The film doesn’t stop its perfect mixture of old and new just there. Beyond the obvious notion that the story itself is a retelling of an old pirate tale, it’s not an exact one-to-one comparison. “Treasure Planet” turns Jim Hawkins’ coming of age story into one that is also about redemption and finding where you belong. Its characters are so complex, besides B.E.N who is simply overused comedic relief, and earnest they are the emotional heartbeat of the film. This passionate and attentive blending of traditional with futuristic in every aspect of the film is what continues to set it apart most modern sci-fi epics, and frankly something that is missing from the current genre as a whole.
“Treasure Planet” is the essence of love, adventure and stardust. It needs to be remembered not as a mere modernization of a time old classic nor a forgotten box office flop, but as a cosmically grand tale that will hopefully continue to rattle the stars for many years to come.
