:maize:

A small part of me was initially worried that this would be a cheap attempt at Titan A.E. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised.

First, the bad: inevitable Titan comparisons aside, it's obvious that Disney meant this one for a younger audience. Still, the glaring scientific inaccuracies (nonsensical starship design, people being able to breathe vacuum, planets that disobey any sort of physical laws of stellar mechanics) actually didn't bother me that much, as it was an obvious homage to Stevenson's original novel.

The plot was only good. I found it predictable mainly because it's loyal to Stevenson's story (which I know in fundamentals, though I've never actually read the book).

What really bugged me was the sheer clichйedness of it. The cool, teenaged hero had his silly-yet-lovable sidekick (three of them, actually), there was the geek-becomes-romantic-lead plotline, the "happily ever-after" ending. . .

Interestingly, they don't adopt the clichй of crediting the villain with Absolute EvilTM. Having never read the novel, I don't know how true-to-the-text this is, but the screenwriters seem to have divided Long John Silver's character into two people. Scroop is the archetypal mutineer, and the properly clichйed Disney villain. This hulking spider-like creature (very clearly a monster :roleyess: ) does meet the proper "Disneyatic" end of being cast off into space (screaming all the way, as per the scientific inaccuracies). Silver himself is emphasized as "going soft," and actually does become a sort of father-figure (which excuses the ads constantly emphasizing him as The Villain, and thus spoiling what was supposed to be one of the more dramatic moments).

Tangentially, I was able to note several devices borrowed shamelessly from other franchises. There was the "Iconian Gateway" from Star Trek that ends up driving the big action sequence at the end, the "spaceport" that looks like a slice of Ringworld, and Scroop's animation model was visibly based on the Shadows from Babylon 5. Mr. Arrow, the doomed first mate appears to be a brikar (from Peter David's Star Trek New Frontier), but that could be a fluke). Also, when Treasure Planet itself starts exploding, it manages to resemble Cybertron (Transformers), Apokolips, and Warworld (both from DC Comics) all at once. It's worth noting as well that our initial view of Treasure Planet's surface could easily be taken for technorganic Cybertron as it appears at the end of Beast Machines. Oh, and Ben the Robot was also a Transformer (a particularly half-assed transformation, but no worse than most of G1).

The puns, sight gags, and the sustained fart joke did grate after a while, though the quality of the animation (both cell-drawn and CGI) more than made up for it.

The animation is where this movie really shines; a mixture of the traditional Disney "perpetual motion" style (where characters look like they're about to fly apart every time they gesture) with the straight-edge look of Titan A.E..

End verdict: One to see on the big screen if you have a spare few hours (and especially if there are children involved), but remember to turn off your brain when you go in.

There are also three very good points:
(1) Anthropomorphic cat-girl. :heart3:
(2) Anthropomorphic cat-girl in uniform. 3heart
(3) Anthropomorphic cat-girl in uniform with a rapier wit and subtle sexual innuendos. :hearteye:

:snear:

I see dead people.

Where?
(oh and for catgirls I rather turn to anime, a source which Disney likes to "borrow" from in glorious amounts)
(and let's not forget the holographic map leading to a very important place thing being borrowed from our fave game Jedi Knight ^.^)

Originally posted by BeastMaster
:snear:

I see dead people.

my mom sees dead people all the time. She works at a funeral home.


anyway, I might will go see this movie after the review. If it isn't as good as you say it is, you shalt owe me $7.