Disney Prince Review: Milo Thatch and Jim Hawkins, Atlantis: the Lost Empire and Treasure Planet

Milo Thatch: The Page Master 

"I will find Atlantis on my own, even if I have to rent a rowboat!"

Milo is a unique character in his own right, more comparable to Belle or Jane in how he functions. Milo is very much like every great researcher in these kind of movies, he believes a place exists, knows it in his heart but no one believes him and he is ridiculed for it. Like Quasimodo he is less the archetypal protagonist then say Aladdin or Shang, and that's kind of his thing. He is very much like Taran in the Black Cauldron,with both of them getting more then they bargained for in their adventure and hitting emotional low points created by their own decisions and shortcomings. We could view the movie itself as a pursuit of passions over profit and vice versa as Milo's passion and optimism for the joy of exploration is ridiculed and exploited by those who see only the profit of finding Atlantis. The big figure in Milo's life is his grandfather and in a lot of ways, he is someone that Milo wants to emulate and be like so it is interesting to see various things from his grandfather (hat, journal, and even photo) be idolized, tossed around, and even shattered to given away. We get that Milo is who he is because of Thaddeus Thatch and we see people try to ridicule Milo for it, both the board and Rourke ridicule Thaddeus Thatch but it is the lessons he taught Milo that allows Milo to not only find Atlantis but also stand up to and defeat Rourke.

In his adventure I often think the biggest problem was in Milo's interaction with the crew because as good and interesting as they are, you don't really feel they have much of an impact on him over the journey itself. The movie ultimately shows everyone who Milo is and he finds not only Atlantis  but he finds a place he belongs and is needed. As good as this is it creates a problem with the movie as the interesting characters that made the film (Mole, Audrey, Sweet, etc.) disappear in the film and then they are temporarily bad guys and then quickly become good guys again, they become background characters, reduced to one liners. It does sort of feel like the weakness the PageMaster ultimately had in that it doesn't feel like whatever these literary figures "taught" Richard Tyler made any sense ultimately.

Milo is ultimately a character that learns to stand up for himself, and be more comfortable with who he is. Through is adventure he shows that he has merit, value, and courage just as he is and he even finds a girl who loves that about him. It's a good lesson to teach kids that you really don't need to be anything other than yourself and it's told in an interesting way that you appreciate more.

Jim Hawkins: The 90's Kid in the Future

" But this my chance to make it up to you. I'm gonna set things right."

Jim Hawkins feels very much like he could fit into almost any action story and I think that speaks more to how good Treasure Island is. The story and the movie are so simple that it makes it easier to make the characters interesting. Jim is someone who has really given up, in a more realistic/modern take on Arthur in the Sword in the Stone, where Arthur essentially resolves to accept whatever life gives him, Jim doesn't even really try. A lot of his issues do stem from lacking a father or rather, his father flat out leaving the family multiple times before eventually just not coming back. Where what kept Arthur down was the society, Jim keeps himself down because he has stopped caring, which is a shame because we see that he is smart and capable but lacking the discipline and drive that Arthur had. I would argue that Jim does blame himself for his father leaving in some way, I think this is best shown with the death of Mr. Arrow, who Jim thought died because he himself didn't do his job right.

Like how Merlin teaching Arthur helps him grow, John Silver very much helps Jim grow up. The greatest weakness and strength of Treasure Planet is the dynamic between the two as it not only heartfelt but it really takes up the bulk of the story with no room to breathe, the movies story and focus I think are just too tight and sadly by the numbers. John essentially becomes his surrogate father, bringing in that tough discipline he needs while at the same time encouraging him. When Jim finds out that Silver was only pretending he is noticeably hurt but the two of them do part on good terms at the end and when offered the chance to run off, Jim resolves to stay and with Morph (who along with Dilbert and Captain Amelia attempt to add some color to the movie) enter the Royal Flight Academy.

The song "I'm Still Here" is a big, heartfelt song in the film which I think does a great job of showing what this movie is trying to be. Jim sees himself as someone people don't see, who is written off as something else. This echoes other songs like "Reflection", "Go the Distance", and "One Jump Reprise", songs that really flesh out that our characters are looking for something beyond the material and are seeking something emotional. I would say "I'm still Here" along with "Reflection" capture that in just the right way because the song feels hurt and angry in a lot of way while at the same time wanting someone to see that he is someone worth investing in.

 I've spent a lot of time debating on who would be the next ones and I have to say it was a bit difficult but I did get requests for these to be next and I didn't want to go full on into the unofficial Disney Prince line. I decided to go with these two because.......... well they are in some ways the successors to The Black Cauldron and The Sword in the Stone in that despite how imperfect the films are in one way or another, the cult following they garner shows that there is something there that shines through. It's interesting because these films were received rather well by critics as a whole but they just didn't make much money, Treasure Planet effectively bombed at the box office where Atlantis: the Lost Empire had to compete with Shrek, so yeah. Like their contemporaries Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, and Hercules all try to be something more than than traditional Disney Princess films and I think that has been the problem with the Disney Prince brand, it never found a real footing with itself because you have to ask "What is the Disney Prince and how is it different from the Disney Princess?" because where the Disney Princess was only a main character role, we had Disney Princes serving the role of "save the day, get the girl". The stories vary from adventure, romance, self discovery, with the only real theme being "I'm on my own", a lot of the more personal and emotional stories go to the Disney Princes the more you think about it. There was always the undercut of people not understanding the Disney Princess but until Mulan it never felt like was ever hitting emotional, personal beat. For the princes, it's not so much that people don't understand you so much as they don't WANT to. With Jim and Milo that's what happens, with Quasmimodo, Tarzan, Herculues, they are all people who society would rather avoid and that was something started in Aladdin. Jim and Milo represent those feelings in the most real, down to Earth way and that is why I chose them.

Next time we'll talk about the story of a prince, a waitress, and Jim Cummings.