Treasure Planet is boldly going where no treasure hunters have gone before and taking Treasure Island into space, even less traditional than the Muppet's hilarious take (with zippy Hans Zimmer score) on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic. The character design appears markedly similar to the ill fated Titan AE (which I actually thought was pretty good), particularly for the lead character, although the album cover art here is some of the most stylish I've come across this year. Despite the Disney marketing machine, I rather think it'll get swamped in amongst Potter, Lord of the Rings and Bond, but you never can tell. Despite equal billing with James Newton Howard, John Rzeznik, about whom I know close to zero, contributes only two songs. Both are MOR rock songs and enjoyable enough, I suppose we should just be grateful for anything that isn't a horrid ballad.

This marks James Newton Howard's third Disney entry and despite a couple of strong moments, turns out to be a little disappointing. After a quiet opening, 12 Years Later turns into a terrific cross between A Perfect Storm and Korngold on prozac, with an electric guitar obbligato supporting the brisk and brassy main theme. So far so good, Howard opened Atlantis and Dinosaur in much the same way. To the Spaceport follows a similar pattern of quiet opening proceeded by a more rousing section. After that, it all gets a bit disappointing. It turns to more ebb and flow animation scoring, just hitting dramatic points without much in the way of strong musical statement. Even The Launch (invariably a promising track title) doesn't quite muster up the requisite level of excitement. There is some jaunty jigging for Silver, although, again, this is disappointingly short lived.

Of course the film can't end without the obligatory action sequence and The Portal and Jim Saves the Crew provides just such an occasion. However the grand, vibrant adventure of Atlantis is replaced with more standard Howard action scoring, aside from a joyous reprise of the electric guitar combo from 12 Years Later. Silver Leaves is a pleasingly low key ending and one of the few quiet tracks that has a strong emotive quality. I said in my review of Atlantis that it didn't hold together as well as Dinosaur and so Treasure Planet doesn't hold together as well as Atlantis. That earlier score did have several truly stand out moments and considerably more variety, Treasure Planet does have a couple of enjoyable sections, but in the end it's just a touch disappointing.

Rating ~

  1. I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) (4:11)
    Performed by John Rzeznik
  2. Always Know Where You Are (3:19)
    Performed by BBMak
  3. 12 Years Later (2:44)
  4. To the Spaceport (1:55)
  5. Rooftop (2:32)
  6. Billy Bones (2:24)
  7. The Map (0:58)
  8. Silver (2:39)
  9. The Launch (2:42)
  10. Silver Comforts Jim (3:23)
  11. Jim Chases Morph (3:17)
  12. Ben (2:30)
  13. Silver Bargains (2:59)
  14. The Back Door (4:18)
  15. The Portal (5:04)
  16. Jim Saves the Crew (4:37)
  17. Silver Leaves (5:13)

Total Time ~ 54:52