Titan A.E. vs Treasure Planet

                       VS














You are left wondering what happened to the article I posted three years ago. I revamped and upgraded if you get the comparisons when you find it is better or a tie. You might notice they are similar if you watched TITAN A.E. and TREASURE PLANET.

Both animated features, whose main character is a young man who disrespects authority, lost his dad when he was young and would find something to change his life forever. Cale and James found father figures in Korso & Silver, who inspired the boys and gave them self-confidence. Korso and Silver had ulterior motives and used the boys for selfish reasons. They later experience a change of heart near the end when they feel responsible for the boys and saving their lives.

Unfortunately, both movies bombed the box office and nearly killed the 2D animation format, meaning neither one grossed or made an impact. First was TITAN A.E. because people seemed unsure whether to target teenagers or older science fiction fans. While TREASURE PLANET, for unknown reasons, presumably similar, competition or that everyone was more interested in fantasy films than sci-fi.

Now, let the match begin!

• Round 1: Characterisations

The first difference between TITAN A.E. and TREASURE PLANET is the characters, as they are easy to find in both pictures. Let's start with the two male leads who have daddy issues. Cale Tucker, for example, is a cynic. He was five years of age when his father left him to quickly save the Titan ship into outer space from the Drej before Earth's explosive demise. Cale gets brought up by a friend and suffers discrimination by other alien species for his race for being homeless drifters. Jim Hawkins is much more relatable and less cynical but retains his background. He grew up with a father who left him at age 12 for no good reason, and his mother tries very hard to keep her son comfortable and away from his troubling behaviour.

For the paternal figure characters, Joseph Korso turns Cale from being stubborn and never turns his back on him until the second half shows us that he is working for the alien menace. Then he redeems himself near the end, and thank goodness he regained his hope to save the last relic of humanity. John Silver, unlike Korso, is a pirate who is only motivated by greed when he seeks Treasure Planet and cares for Jim to keep him from discovering the mutiny, so he does after their short-lived bond. Ultimately, Silver firmly gives up the treasure and decides to save Jim's life without sacrificing himself at the cost of his own.

Both films have supporting villains in Preed and Scroop, who meet their demise for their treachery. Preed not only double crosses Cale and Akima to the Drej but also Korso, his superior and another traitor. Scroop, not quite as backstabbing as Preed, still has his motives and never betrays Silver. He only does the threatening parts about him or questions about his mutiny. That proves Preed from TITAN A.E. is the winner, only that he's slightly more treacherous and devious than the latter.

Thoroughly in two at each feature, they all had other characters to help or pity the hero. First, at TREASURE PLANET, which had some of the likeable supporting leads save for the robot B.E.N., an okay character but would have gotten a different personality instead of a loudmouth shown halfway through the movie. At least he is not as aggravating as Jar Jar of Star Wars.

The verdict is that TREASURE PLANET has many more memorable and well-developed characters than TITAN.

Winner - TREASURE PLANET

• Round 2: Writing

At first, I couldn't figure out which movie was better in terms of quality of writing and structure. Now, TITAN A.E. has a sharp eye for humour and wit, thanks to one of its writers, the legendary Joss Whedon. The film also has twists in the story, including one when Korso turns his back on humanity in the first place. Unfortunately, some glaring holes are in the plot. The most noticeable is why the Drej wanted to destroy humanity when they feared what we might become. The film's storyline is derivative and thus explains the recycled plot ideas and occasional lifted dialogue from previous science-fiction movies.

I will have to nominate TREASURE PLANET for its story because it is an adaptation of a classic tale of literature by Robert Louis Stevenson, even when there are not many plot deficits. It is one of Disney's finest to interpret a well-known classic story.

Winner - TREASURE PLANET

• Round 3: Setting

TITAN A.E. and TREASURE PLANET were about space travel but were in two distinct settings. The former is a dark and post-apocalyptic future where Earth gets destroyed. The other is in an alternate universe where the reality of space is breathable and spaceships built like 16th-century galleons made with a blend of technology and wood. The feel of TREASURE PLANET is more like a science fantasy genre, and nothing is more profound to Disney to craft imagination than Miyazaki did for anime.

Winner - TREASURE PLANET

• Round 4: Voice Acting

One thing a cartoon shouldn't be silent about is voice synchronisation. In TITAN A.E. and TREASURE PLANET, both features had an ensemble of celebrity talents like Bill Pullman, Martin Short, Drew Barrymore, John Leguizamo, David Hyde Pierce, Ron Perlman, etc. First, the standouts on TITAN are Matt Damon and Nathan Lane, while TREASURE has Joseph Gordon Levitt, Brian Murray and Emma Thompson. I have no question that two of each cast member are tied instead of just one. Well, I give it a splendid choice!

Winner - Tied

• Round 5: Animation/Visuals

TITAN A.E. and TREASURE PLANET combined 2D and 3D animation. The two films are the work of the best animation teams from the two studios. In the hand-drawn format, Disney produced the latter, which looked good in its character animation. Sometimes, the designs of the minor characters represent the studio's appeal to young children. Only TITAN A.E. succeeds as well-drawn and complex because the character's facial structure is of a signature style created by the team of Don Bluth. At the least, they made the aliens and humans very expressive. 

If these two movies have traditional hand-drawn animation, what about the CGI-enhanced visuals and the backgrounds? TITAN A.E. was perfect in most visual quality except for the ending for some quite unfinished parts, and the directors seemed unhappy about that. It did not help that one of the effects companies that worked on TITAN A.E. was the studio that later became 20th Century Fox's animation unit. The effects of TREASURE came from Disney's in-house animation department through the Deep Canvas software. The latter succeeded without succumbing to age to beat TITAN.

Winner - TITAN A.E. - 2D

Winner - TREASURE PLANET - 3D

• Round 6: Action

All those two movies are known for their sci-fi/futuristic settings, and their action sequences have excited and impacted some older audiences. In TREASURE, there's hardly any violence despite consisting of some action. TITAN A.E. had more exhilarating action and a lot of violence, explicitly shown when the character kills another by breaking its neck, and some scenes show a lot of bleeding. 

Consider what two movies have the same rating classification. It does not matter. One animated film that is more action-oriented has got to be TITAN by far.

Winner - TITAN A.E.

• Round 7: Music

The music from the two films is known for having original post-grunge/rock-type songs by various artists aimed only at teens and adults. The two film scores often mix with tunes composed by professional and underrated music artists. Eventually, TITAN A.E. would have needed fewer alternative rock songs not to undermine Graeme Revell's unsung score. TREASURE PLANET only had two and was lessened by James Newton Howard's massive arrangements.

I have decided to pick TREASURE PLANET, which only superseded TITAN's complicated array of both kinds of music. You are much easier to track down an out-of-print soundtrack from a car boot sale or eBay.

Winner - TREASURE PLANET

Despite being underrated movies and cult favourites. Which one of these films is way better? The verdict goes to the heavyweight champion of the world! TREASURE PLANET, because it had great story-writing and is more imaginative than the first one. The movie's cult status would lead Disney to leave their regrets behind and probably package it under their engrossing Diamond Editions by releasing it on Blu-Ray and DVD or a theatrical re-release. So which one do you decide the more you vote, or can it be both?

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