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Treasure Island
Adventure / English / 1990
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
I think I've seen it before, but never reviewed it and barely remember it. The only opinion that stands out from my memory is that they didn't portray Silver the way I wanted.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Supposedly this is the best and one of the most faithful adaptations of the book Treasure Island, but having seen Treasure Planet, it sucks to know what could have been.
Treasure Planet, being a fairly standard Disney affair does indeed tell the basic story, but it also convolutes and distracts from the narrative by incorporating Goofy-like characters and forcing family-friendly comedy into the equation. The Disney stand-in for the Ben Gunn character is a disastrously unfunny "comedy relief" character and I've struggled to come into possession of fan edits that specifically edit out his involvement in the movie.
Which is unfortunate because Ben Gunn plays a significant role in the story, but more importantly, and why I feel so mixed on a more genuine interpretation of the book is how Treasure Planet handled Long John Silver.
While he is intended to be the ultimate antagonist of the story, he's supposed to be sympathetic, at least insofar as you, the viewer, come to like him as Taylor Hawkins likes him. In Treasure Planet, Silver plays the chef aboard a legitimate ship on a mission to recover buried treasure left behind by a barbarous pirate, but is eventually revealed to be a mutineer with a pre-existing interest in stealing the treasure for himself and a majority of the crew already wrapped around his finger.
This alone is the minimum you'd expect of the character, but in Treasure Planet, Hawkins, who only has a mother to speak of, looks to Silver as a father figure, and Silver's allegiances are vague and difficult to discern. This makes it a bigger gutpunch when Silver puts Hawkins on the spot and forces him to choose between the shipmate he's become friends with or doing the right thing.
My biggest issue with this movie is that they betray Silver's motives far too quickly, and Hawkins really never develops any sort of meaningful relationship with him, other than that Silver is soft towards Hawkins for no readily apparent reason, and Hawkins in some small way plays into Silver's notion of "honor amongst thieves".
This is definitely not helped by a young Dark Knight having the same inscrutable expression on his face for practically the whole movie. It's the same pouty-lipped expression you see in his more reserved moments in American Psycho. That look that says "your business card is inferior to mine".
At least Charleton Heston, who played Silver is likeable. The Wikipedia page says his performance sucked and I know he's a beloved actor, so I really do wonder what movies I've missed that he slam-dunked so well that this passed for a poor performance.
Yes, Christopher Lee is in this movie too apparently, but I was mainly struggling to remember the guy who plays one of the dinosaur poachers in Jurassic Park: Lost World who I only just now learned died over a decade ago. I also just now learned that there are two conflicting claims on his Wikipedia page claiming two separate movies provoked Spielberg to call him "the best actor in the world".
Always nice to see Julian Glover, he can be my posh British good guy or secret Nazi bad guy any day.
There's not a whole lot else to comment on other than the fact I had to watch this with subtitles because the pirate jargon is so thick I can hardly tell what they're saying half the time if I'm not reading it.
Anyway, it's a decent movie, but nothing special.
Final Verdict: [Good]
Treasure Island
Adventure / English / 1990
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
I think I've seen it before, but never reviewed it and barely remember it. The only opinion that stands out from my memory is that they didn't portray Silver the way I wanted.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Supposedly this is the best and one of the most faithful adaptations of the book Treasure Island, but having seen Treasure Planet, it sucks to know what could have been.
Treasure Planet, being a fairly standard Disney affair does indeed tell the basic story, but it also convolutes and distracts from the narrative by incorporating Goofy-like characters and forcing family-friendly comedy into the equation. The Disney stand-in for the Ben Gunn character is a disastrously unfunny "comedy relief" character and I've struggled to come into possession of fan edits that specifically edit out his involvement in the movie.
Which is unfortunate because Ben Gunn plays a significant role in the story, but more importantly, and why I feel so mixed on a more genuine interpretation of the book is how Treasure Planet handled Long John Silver.
While he is intended to be the ultimate antagonist of the story, he's supposed to be sympathetic, at least insofar as you, the viewer, come to like him as Taylor Hawkins likes him. In Treasure Planet, Silver plays the chef aboard a legitimate ship on a mission to recover buried treasure left behind by a barbarous pirate, but is eventually revealed to be a mutineer with a pre-existing interest in stealing the treasure for himself and a majority of the crew already wrapped around his finger.
This alone is the minimum you'd expect of the character, but in Treasure Planet, Hawkins, who only has a mother to speak of, looks to Silver as a father figure, and Silver's allegiances are vague and difficult to discern. This makes it a bigger gutpunch when Silver puts Hawkins on the spot and forces him to choose between the shipmate he's become friends with or doing the right thing.
My biggest issue with this movie is that they betray Silver's motives far too quickly, and Hawkins really never develops any sort of meaningful relationship with him, other than that Silver is soft towards Hawkins for no readily apparent reason, and Hawkins in some small way plays into Silver's notion of "honor amongst thieves".
This is definitely not helped by a young Dark Knight having the same inscrutable expression on his face for practically the whole movie. It's the same pouty-lipped expression you see in his more reserved moments in American Psycho. That look that says "your business card is inferior to mine".
At least Charleton Heston, who played Silver is likeable. The Wikipedia page says his performance sucked and I know he's a beloved actor, so I really do wonder what movies I've missed that he slam-dunked so well that this passed for a poor performance.
Yes, Christopher Lee is in this movie too apparently, but I was mainly struggling to remember the guy who plays one of the dinosaur poachers in Jurassic Park: Lost World who I only just now learned died over a decade ago. I also just now learned that there are two conflicting claims on his Wikipedia page claiming two separate movies provoked Spielberg to call him "the best actor in the world".
Always nice to see Julian Glover, he can be my posh British good guy or secret Nazi bad guy any day.
There's not a whole lot else to comment on other than the fact I had to watch this with subtitles because the pirate jargon is so thick I can hardly tell what they're saying half the time if I'm not reading it.
Anyway, it's a decent movie, but nothing special.
Final Verdict: [Good]