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Review of Treasure Planet (James Newton Howard)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire a strong companion piece to James Newton Howard's arguably more accomplished, but very similar style for Dinosaur and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Avoid it... if you expect the ethnic highlights of the Treasure Planet score's opening and closing cues to translate into consistent strength in the work's midsection.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Treasure Planet: (James Newton Howard) The Disney enterprise blasted on with its yearly large-scale animated epic, striving to alter another concept, this time Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," to reach for fresh new territory. The space-age adaptation of the classic tale takes a jet propelled 18th Century sailing ship on a search in space for the X that marks the spot. The story sheds many of the usual formulas that inhabit the studio's children's films, including a clear villain and any semblance of a leading duo romance. Also interestingly gone for Disney was the concept of the animated musical; it is perhaps ironic that the directors of this film, Ron Clements and John Musker, were responsible for the super-popular musical The Little Mermaid in 1989, but their efforts for Treasure Planet were awarded with a fair amount of praise (aimed mostly at the visuals). The film did not fare as well at the box office as its two comparable predecessors, Dinosaur and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, likely a result of heavyweight competition in the theatres from entries in the Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and James Bond franchises, among others. For James Newton Howard, this film marked his return as the regular orchestral composer for Disney's larger, non-musical animated efforts, fulfilling the final contractual obligation of a three-picture deal with the studio. Both of his scores for Dinosaur and Atlantis had proven to retain a lasting popularity with enthusiasts of animated music and film scores at large. Listeners familiar with the entirety of those previous scores will recognize several similar motifs, thematic key shifts, and instrumentation in Treasure Planet. For those folks, this score functions as a strong companion piece to those works, though likely a step behind in the quality of its sum.

What Howard produced for all of these animated films was among the more interesting and dynamic orchestral music existing in Hollywood at the time, confirming the composer's role as a highly proficient artist in a genre that is lights years from his material for M. Night Shyamalan's productions. Treasure Planet is nothing particularly special, and it certainly won't go down in history as a classic, but it represents a greater body of excellent music by Howard for the genre. He approached this score just as you would expect, with Erich Korngold in one pocket and John Debney in the other. The themes of high seas adventure offer many tributes to the Korngold style of fast paced orchestral mayhem. Although silly in parts, as necessary for some of the slapstick elements built into the diverse set of characters, the adherence to the kind of musical backdrop that identifies with the style of the sailing ship is undeniably attractive. The other style at work is that of a futuristic setting, which Howard only plays towards at a minimum level. His use of electric guitars as bass accompaniment is effective and thankfully kept at a minimum, avoiding the outward attempts at coolness that would nearly ruin some parts of his music for Universal and Columbia's Peter Pan the following year. Never does the score for Treasure Planet succumb to the temptation of ripping with synthetic elements; that task is more than well enough accomplished by the two jarringly out of place rock songs at the start of the album release. Thematically speaking, the score has an adequate title theme and several secondary identities that border on ungrounded motifs in their underdeveloped, but orchestrally overplayed forms. The themes are a bit cliche, perhaps, with a light choir attempting to perform for the map in this film with the same depth of majesty that graced the map room scene in John Williams' Raiders of the Lost Ark. In this case, it's slightly cheesy, though still enjoyable.

The comedy material in Treasure Planet is serviceably cute without being invasive enough to weigh down the action. An exception may be "Ben," which runs through an expected comedy routine for a sidekick. The element of the score that distinguishes it from a run of the mill effort is the Gaelic tilt to its personality. A Celtic fiddle, pipe, and whistle add ethnicity where none was really required. Nevertheless, it inserts an extra element of fantasy into the picture since those sounds are often associated (by American kids and adults) with imagery of general historical fantasy settings. Unfortunately, these ethnic elements, which open and close the score gracefully, are badly undermixed and lose the appeal that their solo performances could have really wielded. Still, the faint fiddle, whistle, and electric guitars together add just enough spice to this score to make it a worthwhile journey on album for most film music listeners. Howard's score is consistent in its sturdy orchestral foundation for over 45 minutes, a generous amount of score on album for an animated picture, and it overcomes some rather bland moments in its midsection. This is the kind of solid orchestral comedy work and thematic construction that many expected to hear rising out of John Debney as his career matured, and Treasure Planet takes that feeling one step further with its swashbuckling nature. As for the album, the first song performed by the Goo Goo Doll's John Rzeznik and the second song by lesser known BBMak (both written by Rzeznik) offer nothing substantial to the album, and their modern rock noise is a 180 degree turn from Howard's strong instrumentals. Disney's typical attempt to market the album to both crowds of listeners produced that awkward pairing, but the uninterrupted presentation of Howard's score compensates for that small hiccup at the start of the product. Overall, Howard's score is about as predictable as it could be, but it is enjoyable even so, launching Erich Korngold's bold style from The Sea Hawk to a place where no sailing score had gone before.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 54:51

• 1. I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) - written and performed by John Rzeznik (4:11) • 2. Always Know Where You Are - written by John Rzeznik, performed by BBMak (3:19) • 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* (5:11)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert contains extensive credits and an advertisement poster for other products related to the film, but no information about the score or film.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Treasure Planet are Copyright © 2002, Walt Disney Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/15/02 and last updated 2/28/09.