Treasure Planet, a Retrospective. Does it still hold up in 2025?
By Iain McLean
Ask anyone in the world if they know the story Treasure Island and you’ll get unanimous yes, the story is practically engrained in our society. The book, published in 1883, by Robert Louis Stevenson received widespread praise when it released and has continued to have remakes 142 years later. In total, there have been 24 stage adaptations, seven radio plays, a Japanese anime special with at least 10 more foreign adaptations. However, it is television and films that have helped sustain this iconic story for more than a century with 50 different versions or adaptations being released.
The most unique of these adaptations being Disney’s Treasure Planet.
It was originally shown at a premiere in Paris November 6th, 2002, with its American release 21 days later. It never sailed its way over to the UK until February of 2003.
At the time, the film underperformed making just $109.6 million while the budget was $140 million. This cost alone made it one of Disney’s most expensive movies to date and one of its most damaging losses.
Reviews of the film when it released were mixed.
Some lauded the visual effects while others stated the film was lacklustre with an “incoherent story” with this version’s Jim Hawkins receiving the most criticism.
So, what happened? Disney did not comment on its failure, but the common issues cited were the high budget, the poor marketing or the film being entirely CGI. The most repeated issue is that fact its release date coincided with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
The film didn’t receive much buzz in the years after its release but with the rise of DVDs then digital streaming services, something unexpected happened.
The film became a cultural phenomenon with today’s audiences, whether it was the edits made of the stunning visuals or fan edits of many people’s first crush, Jim Pleiades Hawkins (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) himself. Fandom around the film ballooned. The song used for Jim’s theme I’m Still Here by John Rzeznik probably still has TikTok videos using it daily.
This has led to two entirely new generations, Gen Z (those born between 1997 – 2012) and Gen Alpha (2013 – 2024) discovering and falling in love with the film.
This is down to the fact they are the most “online” generation to date, with iPads and streaming services practically in their hands since birth. This fact repeating the cycle of discovering the soundtrack, the visuals and of course, Jim Hawkins, for the first time all over again.
People could argue that it’s just a become a cult classic, but I’d argue something else is happening entirely. In the 1990s and the noughties we didn’t have access to a plethora of movies at a single touch. If we wanted to watch a movie we didn’t own, our saviour was Blockbuster: A chain of film rental shops your parents would take you at the weekend, the shelves filled with countless films in their classic blue cases.
The digitisation of the newer generations and how they spend their time has entirely evolved from climbing walls and playing ‘curby’ with your friends. This same situation has happened with their interests, with nearly every child either listening to music, being on social media or watching streaming services.
This has only helped countless films that had initially flopped. Films such as Hocus Pocus. It came out in 1993, and failed both commercially and with the critics, yet received a sequel 29 years later. How did they manage that? The newer generations plus us oldies that experienced it as children turned it into a Halloween staple. So much so, that it trends on Disney+ every year when the spooky season rears its head all these years later.
This is the same thing that happened with Treasure Planet, but it’s watched all year round. It has become one of the gems on Disney that make its subscription worth the money. If this was released today it woud be one of the best films of the year because of the drastic changes in the modern film audience.
Treasure Planet is a unique and visually stunning take on the source material with an incredible soundtrack to boot.
The relationship between Jim and Long John Silver is one of the most beloved arcs of the film. It doesn’t hurt that instead of a parrot, Long John’s companion is an adorable amorphous blob called “Morph” who ends up staying with Jim.
This, I believe, is why so many people find the film endearing and heartfelt. The amount of effort put into the arc of Long John becoming a father to Jim is done incredibly well. The montage to I’m Still Here is one of the best sequences in the film.
This relationship and its outstanding visuals that hold up to today’s standards, for a film that released in 2002, is impressive.
I’m not saying there may not be flaws in the film but they’re not enough to strip it of its newfound status among film and Disney fans. The story flows naturally and the characters interactions get you invested enough to care about everyone on that flying ship.
The invention of streaming services paired with the ever-increasing rise in social media brought Treasure Planet back to life.
Though the inception of these platforms killed stores such as Blockbuster, they have had an overall positive impact on films as a whole. They have been responsible for reviving long thought dead classics to the point that the momentum they receive gets them sequels or even completely remade decades later.
This type of new media consumption for films can only be seen as a net positive in keeping old films alive and sparking new life into their fanbases.
Treasure Planets reviews currently sit at 7.2/10 on IMDB, 3.9/5 on Letterboxd and an audience score of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film is available to stream on Disney+.