14th Mar 202529th Sep 2025 by The Disney Purist

The Suite Life Movie (2011)

BACKGROUND

Surprisingly, in 2011, Disney Channel aired three Disney Channel Original Movies all based on Disney Channel television series.

This isn’t anything new for Disney Channel as they’ve made DCOMs based on their series since the 2000s, with The Even Stevens Movie (2003) being one of the first, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) being the most recent one before 2011.

Disney Channel’s first DCOM of 2011 was The Suite Life Movie, in a year that saw six other brand new DCOMs being released on the channel, including the High School Musical spin-off Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure; Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension; and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!

The Suite Life franchise was a popular and successful commodity for Disney Channel, having first premiered as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2005. The never-ending, always extreme, antics of two twin boys running around a posh hotel, where they lived thanks to the fact their mother happened to be the hotel’s singer, kept viewers interested, to the point that Zack and Cody earned themselves a spin-off series, The Suite Life on Deck, which premiered in 2008, pretty much straight after the original show ended. This time, their craziness was moved to a cruise ship where the twins would be attending “school at sea”.

I really liked The Suite Life of Zack & Cody when it first came to Disney Channel. It was not my absolute favourite series but I think I watched every episode of the original show. It was always on and the mid-2000s was prime Disney Channel viewing time for me. However, when The Suite Life on Deck came about, I just didn’t like it. Maybe it was the fact all the original characters weren’t there, or because I’m not a fan of cruise ships. Something just wasn’t right, so I only watched a few episodes of that series, normally if I was bored and there was nothing else on. I can’t remember much of it at all.

Because of this lack of interest in The Suite Life on Deck, plus by 2011, I was starting to move away from Disney Channel as my favourite series ended and stars departed, I never even knew The Suite Life Movie existed. After watching it for the first time this week, I am pleased to say… I didn’t miss out on anything.

The whole premise of The Suite Life Movie is just odd, with a science-fiction theme and a weird evil scientist plot that the twins get mixed up in. I did not enjoy watching it and its only redeeming factors were: 1) Mr. Moseby was still there, even if only for a few scenes but on top form as usual; 2) the fact one of the actors had been in Sabrina the Teenage Witch; and 3) it was less than 90 minutes long.

PLOT

The Suite Life Movie opens on board the SS Tipton, where Zack and Cody have been living and going to school for the past couple of years. Cody is busy preparing a special dinner for his girlfriend Bailey on one of the cruise ship’s decks. He clearly has something important to say to her, because he has written her a letter.

But as usual, Cody’s twin brother Zack shows up, with their friend, Woody, to mess with Cody’s plan. It turns out Cody needs to tell Bailey that he’s going to be doing an internship at a biology centre over spring break, something he hopes will lead to a scholarship to Yale University. Zack says he’ll break the news to Bailey in exchange for Cody giving him the car that Cody was given by their parents for college. Cody refuses and the two fight over the letter for Bailey. It is dropped, seemingly into the ocean. Unbeknownst to the boys though, the letter is caught by the wind and lands underneath a chair on deck.

That evening, Cody waits for the right time to tell Bailey about his internship, however, she continues to talk about all the plans and places they’ll go together over spring break, this being their last spring break before college. Just as Cody finds a moment to tell Bailey, Zack shows up, dangling alongside them in a life ring. Zack then proceeds to bluntly tell Bailey that Cody won’t be around for spring break because of his internship. Bailey is furious with Cody for ditching her wonderful spring break plans for work. She storms off before Cody can explain that he has to do this to get into Yale.

The next day, Mr. Moseby takes Cody to the Biology Reserve so he can begin his internship and meet his supervisor. However, Zack also tags along, as does London Tipton, the ditzy hotel heiress whose father owns the cruise ship. London mostly just wants to look at the dolphins, which she believes are fish, not mammals, because “they don’t have any humps”. This is a recurring joke throughout the movie… The important thing to notice here is that London eats some of the food meant for the dolphins and freaks out, leaving the area.

Moseby, Cody, and Zack go inside the centre where they meet Dr. Donald Spaulding. Dr. Spaulding shows them to his lab where he talks to Cody. He says that he was very impressed with Cody’s essay on twins, saying he has a twin brother too. Dr. Spaulding then tells Cody about his current research. Spaulding believes that, using a rare fruit, telepathy will be possible between dolphins and humans, something that Cody finds fascinating. Mr. Moseby realises that Zack is missing and goes to look for him. It turns out Zack has followed a pretty lab technician, Nellie, through an unauthorised area, where he proceeds to tell her that he is incredibly smart and can mostly definitely pilot that submersible nearby. Zack gets inside the submersible and descends into the dolphin tank.

Since Cody and Dr. Spaulding are looking right into that tank from the lab, they soon spot Zack messing about in there, but instead of waiting for security or one of the scientists to get Zack out of the submersible, Cody decides to get into the other submersible and follow him through the tank, shouting at him for ruining his first day on the internship. The two fight in their boats as Cody tries to get Zack to return to the surface but in doing so, one of their boats breaks the glass of the seawall. Both eject from the boats before they are sucked out into the ocean. Needless to say, this incident causes Cody to be fired from his internship. It also looks like this wasn’t an accident; a janitor and Nellie seem to have planned this…

Back on the cruise ship, Cody wallows in self-pity, since he’s lost his internship and Bailey still won’t talk to him. Luckily, Zack brings Dr. Spaulding to him, who tells Cody that he won’t be working for him anymore but that Dr. Olsen would love to have Cody’s assistance on a new project, something called the Gemini Project, which is all about twins. But that does mean that both Zack and Cody will have to attend. They both agree to go.

The twins later arrive at the Gemini Project, a facility located by a lake, where an old sawmill sits abandoned opposite. The facility is full of twins wandering about the area, looking happy. Zack and Cody are met by Dr. Olsen who takes them to his basement lab. Here, he tells them that he plans to use the same rare fruit that Dr. Spaulding is using on his dolphin research on twins instead, believing that it can grow empathy within humans, meaning that there will be less conflict in the world. They are then shown the Mind Transference Facilitator, which is where Zack and Cody will have their first tests. Zack is strapped to the machine and told to look at the screen. Different names of colours come up on the screen, but the words may be in a different colour. Zack must correctly identify the word, not the colour of it – we all know this game, right? Zack, not being as smart as Cody, plus the fact Cody keeps giving him an electric shock every time he gets the answer wrong, fails this test, and the two fight, proving that Dr. Olsen has two perfect research subjects.

Meanwhile, Bailey is walking around the city with London and Woody, debating how she should deal with the “Cody situation”. Should she call him? Should she ignore his calls? In the end, Cody stops calling her – because his phone was taken from him at the Gemini Project because radiation affects the delicate machinery – so Bailey deletes his number. London is also exhibiting some strange behaviour, seemingly being able to hear what different marine creatures are “saying”. She talks to a dolphin about her outfit, and then hears the escape plan of a crate of crabs in the market, for example. Weird.

Back at the Gemini Project, Zack and Cody eat lunch with some other twins on the project, including Nellie, that “assistant” from Dr. Spaulding’s lab, and her twin sister Kellie. The girls explain how all twins must get along and be nice and kind to each other because that’s just the way it should be, which is completely at odds with Zack and Cody’s dynamic, where they fight about everything and anything! At lunch, they are fed this rare fruit for the first time and then led out to take part in some sports tasks. This involves a high ropes course, complete with nets, bridges, and zip wires. Cody is already nervous since he isn’t the most athletic of people, but the two soon notice that all the twins are moving perfectly in sync. That’s not exactly the case for Zack and Cody, although they do soon notice that each of them is feeling the same physical pain that the other is feeling, a sign that the fruit is working on them. Dr. Olsen gets them to do the colour-word test again and sure enough, when Zack is shocked, Cody feels it too. Dr. Olsen is delighted with their progress.

Zack starts to think this place is too weird and wants to leave. Cody gets angry at him for ruining things for him yet again. Zack then talks to Nellie who convinces Zack to stay, saying that “The Merge” will fix everything. Zack doesn’t know what that means but agrees to stay at the Gemini Project anyway. Just as Cody is about to be removed from the project by Dr. Olsen, as one twin is no use to him, Zack returns and the two are moved onto Stage 2. They are given the fruit to eat again and soon start to experience the other one’s feelings. This leads to a heart-to-heart between the boys as they learn something new about each other, like how Cody feels like Zack has messed up his chances of going to Yale, and how Zack wants Cody’s car so he can go and find himself whilst everyone else is at college. But then, they overhear Dr. Olsen talking about “The Merge” and how they must enact it soon, even though it will mean that Cody “loses his brain”. Cody and Zack are horrified by this, with Zack wanting to leave, but Cody wanting to save all the other twins.

The two sneak into Dr. Olsen’s lab where they manage to access his computer. On it, they discover the full programme of the Gemini Project. Stage 1 involves matching physical sensations; Stage 2 is about emotional feelings; and Stage 3 is The Merge, which sees the twins literally merge to become one person. The twins then discover a Stage 4, which will allow the merged twins to be controlled. Dr. Olsen discovers Zack and Cody in his lab and know his grand scheme has been uncovered. But he also sees that, because Zack continued to eat the fruit, the two have begun a “half-merge”, where Zack finishes Cody’s sentences and the two have a level of telepathy between them. Dr. Olsen unveils a beacon which begins to control the other twins and he orders them to capture Zack and Cody. Zack and Cody try everything to get away from them, even going on a zip wire across the lake to the abandoned sawmill, but they are chased every step of the way. Just when they think they’ve gotten away, by jumping into the lake, they find themselves surrounded….

Back on the cruise ship, Mr. Moseby has discovered Cody’s letter to Bailey on deck and gives it to her. Bailey reads it and learns that Cody’s internship was important to him because it would give him the chance to go to Yale. He was torn between getting into the “school of his dreams” and spending time with the “girl of his dreams”. Bailey is touched by this and realises she’s been selfish about spring break – uh, no duh. Bailey has to fix things with Cody. However, when Bailey, London, and Woody speak to Dr. Spaulding, he says that Cody was fired from the project and banned from the site. He hasn’t seen them since. London then speaks to a dolphin who says to her that the twins are about fifty miles from here. Dr. Spaulding thinks the boys are in trouble. Bailey calls Mr. Moseby to tell him Zack and Cody are in danger, and the group set off to the Gemini Project site.

When they arrive, they find they are too late. Zack and Cody are strapped to a machine with a forcefield protecting them from outside interference. Dr. Spaulding confronts Dr. Olsen, who is revealed to be Dr. Spaulding’s twin, Ronald – gasp! He’s been wearing a mask this whole time! And he was the one to invite the boys to the Gemini Project, not Dr. Donald Spaulding! Ronald had been spying on the boys as he knew they were vital to his research. Ronald then turns on the machine and The Merge begins. The twins’ souls are released; however, the souls fight each other. Bailey realises this is causing The Merge to fail so encourages them to fight more. This fighting creates a power surge and when Cody taunts Zack about their parents’ car, Zack’s reaction causes the machine to explode. The Gemini Project is over once and for all, freeing the other twins from Ronald’s control. Cody then has an idea to stop Ronald from restarting the project. He hands both Donald and Ronald some of the fruit. After eating it, they both begin to realise how the other has felt their whole life and discover that they were both jealous of each other. But there’s no time for reconciliation because Moseby is here with the police who promptly arrest Ronald / Dr. Olsen. Zack and Cody realise that they actually make a great team – if they work together.

Back on the ship, Bailey and Cody are back together and have had a great spring break. It’s also revealed that Cody did give Zack the car to use, however, as he parks it in the shipping area as he returns to the ship, the car is crushed by a huge crate. Zack looks round in horror to see that the car he so desperately wanted is destroyed. London is happy though; that crate is full of her summer clothes!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Cody Martin has always been the studious, responsible twin, and that is still the case in The Suite Life Movie. Cody is making decisions about college, his dream college being Yale. Cody believes that doing the internship at Dr. Spaulding’s lab will help him get a scholarship to go there, but that doesn’t work out. When Cody gets another opportunity to complete an internship, this time with Dr. Olsen, he is eager to get going, wanting to be part of a major scientific breakthrough, and since he is a twin and not a dolphin, he’ll actually be an integral part of the research there. Cody is completely dedicated to the Gemini Project, but when it is revealed that this project is a ruse for an evil scheme, instead of just leaving, he wants to help save the other twins. To do that, he needs that twin brother who he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with, but who has always been beside him, to help.

Cody Martin was played by Cole Sprouse throughout The Suite Life franchise. Alongside his twin brother, the two both played Julian McGrath in the Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy (1999). During their time on Disney Channel, the two also appeared in the movie A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper (2007) where Cole played Eddie Tudor. Since the end of The Suite Life, Cole Sprouse was part of the cast of Riverdale (2017-23), where he played Forsythe “Jughead” Jones III throughout the show’s run, and starred as Walt in the HBO Max movie Moonshot (2022) alongside Lana Condor.

Zack Martin is the chaotic, disorganised twin, usually the one who is the cause of all the problems that the twins get themselves in. Zack isn’t looking at going to college, so he is still feeling quite carefree about life, not stressing himself about internships and good grades. However, we do learn that Zack is feeling quite uncertain about his future, not knowing what he wants to do, or who he wants to be. Even at the Gemini Project, Zack is more bothered about girls than scientific research, soon wanting to quit but he knows he can’t because if he does leave, then he has ruined two internships for Cody in just a few days! When things go wrong for them at the facility, Zack and Cody end up working together to stop Dr. Olsen’s evil plan, finding that they can be a good team, despite their different personalities.

Zack Martin was played by Dylan Sprouse throughout The Suite Life franchise. Alongside his twin brother, Cole, Dylan played the part of Tom Canty in A Modern Twain Story: The Prince and the Pauper. Since Disney, Dylan has been cast in movies such as After We Collided (2020), the second instalment in the After film series, where he played Trevor; and Beautiful Disaster (2023), where he was cast as Travis Maddox. He reprised this role in the film’s sequel Beautiful Wedding (2024).

The Gemini Project is run by Dr. Olsen, who is actually Dr. Spaulding’s twin, Ronald. Dr. Olsen covers his identity with a mask through much of the movie, only revealing his true self at the very end. Dr. Olsen initially seems dedicated to his research and he gets on with Cody as they bond over their love of science. Nothing seems to be strange about Dr. Olsen until the boys overhear him talking about wanting to “merge” the twins. Then they know something is up, but nothing could have prepared them for getting mixed up in an evil plan to control the whole world! It turns out Dr. Olsen only wanted to do this because of childhood jealous that he felt towards his brother. Once they work that out, thanks to the weird fruit, Dr. Olsen happily goes off to jail…

Dr. Olsen – perhaps named after two of the most famous twins in the world, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen – was played by Matthew Glave. Glave appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Dale Edson on ER (1994-2009) in its earlier seasons. More recently, Glave portrayed Chuck Yeager in the movie First Man (2018). He was also cast as Coach Tommy Bowden in the Disney+ film Safety (2020) and has appeared as Oscar Hutchinson in the ABC series The Rookie (2018-present).

Dr. Spaulding is a scientist like his brother, and he came up with the initial research of using this rare fruit to create a telepathic connection, except in Dr. Spaulding’s case, he wants to use this to allow dolphins to communicate with humans. Dr. Olsen stole this research to use on twins with seemingly decent results, however, Dr. Spaulding had not reached a breakthrough with his, until London Tipton shows up, being able to speak to dolphins, thanks to that tiny piece of fruit she mistakenly ate! After this revelation from the dolphin of where the twins are, Dr. Spaulding seems to instantly know that his twin is working on some evil scheme and using Zack and Cody to implement it. Dr. Spaulding locates him and manages to briefly reconcile with his estranged brother before he is arrested.

John Ducey was cast as Dr. Donald Spaulding – and Dr. Ronald Spaulding, when Dr. Olsen lifts his mask. Ducey already had some history with Disney Channel prior to The Suite Life Movie as he was cast as Tom Lucas, the father in Jonas (2009-10), which, obviously, starred the Jonas Brothers. For any fans of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003), you should also recognise Ducey from Season 7 of the programme, as he played Leonard, one of Sabrina’s work colleagues at Scorch magazine. I always loved Leonard; he was my favourite of the characters introduced in that season. Recently, Ducey also wrote and starred in the 2022 festive film I Believe in Santa, playing Tom.

In my opinion, these four characters make up the main plot of The Suite Life Movie, which is a shame, as there are four other characters who were hugely important to The Suite Life on Deck series, but were not used well in the movie.

One of these is London Tipton, the ditzy hotel heiress who came with Zack, Cody, and Mr. Moseby on board the SS Tipton for school. During The Suite Life Movie, London’s main roles are to be a sounding board to Bailey’s complaints about Cody, as well as to be the “missing link” of Dr. Spaulding’s research, showing that this fruit can produce telepathic communication between humans and animals. It’s an important part of the fictional science project, but isn’t particularly useful in the movie, apart from the fact London learns from a dolphin about where Zack and Cody are being held captive. It’s a real pity that London couldn’t have had a better side plot as she was always a brilliant character in the series.

London Tipton was played by Brenda Song, who was no stranger to Disney Channel even before her casting in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Song has actually been in five separate Disney Channel Original Movies: The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) as Samantha; Get a Clue (2002) as Jennifer; Stuck in the Suburbs (2004) as Natasha; Wendy Wu in Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), and of course, London in The Suite Life Movie. Song managed to break out of Disney with her casting as Christy in The Social Network (2010). In recent years, Song has also been the voice of Princess Akemi in Blue Eye Samurai (2023-present) and was cast as Mary-Anne in The Last Showgirl (2024). In 2025, Song was also cast as Ali Lee in the Netflix series Running Point (2025-present).

Mr. Moseby is another fan-favourite character from the original series. Mr. Moseby was the hotel manager of the Tipton Hotel and is now the manager of the SS Tipton. He also seems to be the guardian of London, and Zack and Cody, whilst onboard the ship, which would explain why he takes Cody to his internship at the research centre. Outside of the chaos that ensues there, we don’t really see Mr. Moseby until the end, when he is relieved to find Zack and Cody safe, having brought the police to the facility to arrest Dr. Olsen.

Phill Lewis was cast as Mr. Moseby. Prior to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Lewis appeared as Principal Tweedy in some episodes of Lizzie McGuire (2001-04). Still on the channel, Lewis was cast as Maurice in the DCOM Dadnapped (2009) and directed many episodes of Disney Channel series, including The Suite Life on Deck; Jessie (2011-15); and Bunk’d (2015-24). Lewis has also directed episodes of the revival series of iCarly (2021-23). Lewis appeared as ‘Crazy’ Hooch in the popular medical sitcom Scrubs (2001-10).

Then there is Bailey Pickett, a character introduced in The Suite Life on Deck. Bailey is Cody’s girlfriend, but all we get to see of her in The Suite Life Movie is her moaning about Cody’s disrespect of her spring break plans, and her debates about whether she should or shouldn’t call him or answer his calls. It’s not a particularly good plotline for the character and it mostly just makes her look selfish and childish. When Bailey is given Cody’s original letter by Mr. Moseby, explaining his reasons for taking the internship, she realises she’s made a mistake and has to find him to make it right. It’s a good thing she does really, otherwise who knows whether Zack and Cody would’ve been saved from The Merge…

Bailey Pickett was played by Debby Ryan. Ryan began her Disney Channel career on The Suite Life on Deck, which led to many more roles for her. One of these was a starring role in the sort-of DCOM 16 Wishes (2010), playing Abby Jensen. After The Suite Life on Deck ended, Ryan continued to feature on Disney Channel by starring in the series Jessie (2011-15). During this time, she was also cast in the leading role of Tara Adams in the DCOM Radio Rebel (2012). Outside of Disney, Ryan’s most famous role is perhaps as Patty Bladell in the controversial Netflix series Insatiable (2018-19). More recently, she voiced the character of Krista in the animated series Velma (2023-24), a spin-off of the Scooby-Doo franchise, and is set to appear in the thriller film Famous, which will star Zac Efron.

Finally, we have Woody Fink, a classmate on the SS Tipton and also Cody’s cabinmate, introduced in The Suite Life on Deck. He’s the complete opposite of Cody, being messy and not very studious, so he gets on better with Zack. Woody is part of the gang of friends that feature Zack, Cody, London, and Bailey. Woody doesn’t have much to do in The Suite Life Movie, much like the other characters I mentioned, just standing next to Zack as he reveals Cody’s internship to Bailey and then standing next to Bailey as she complains about Cody, and then going to find Zack and Cody at the Gemini Project.

Woody Fink was played by Matthew Timmons, who stopped acting in 2013, once The Suite Life on Deck had ended and after making a guest appearance on Debby Ryan’s series Jessie. Timmons has since stated that he was typecast into playing “big characters” with “big personalities” because of his weight and that he had difficulties with his mental health at times because of this. Many of the gags that revolved around Woody on the show focused on his weight and physical appearance so I can see how that would affect your mental state, especially at a young age. Timmons has since come to a place where he feels more comfortable in himself and encourages others via his social media accounts[1].

MUSIC

There aren’t many songs in The Suite Life Movie at all, not even as background noise. There are only two recognisable songs, one for the opening sequence and another for the ending.

During the opening sequence, as Cody is preparing his dinner date for him and Bailey where he plans to tell her about his internship, the song “Uptown, Get Around” is played, performed by Stereo Skyline. I actually quite liked this song; it was just an upbeat pop song. Stereo Skyline was an American pop band, formed in 2006, who stopped making music around 2012, coming back in 2019 to release the single “Runaway’s”.

At the end of the movie, as the End Credits roll, the song “Such a Colorful World”, performed by Max & Simon, written by Mark Rosas, Blake Healy, and Kevin Bard, is used. It would appear that Kevin Bard, the lead vocalist of the band Stereo Skyline, co-created the music project Max & Simon. Again, it was an inoffensive, upbeat song that I didn’t mind.

There is another song that is played briefly as Cody and Zack start their time on the high ropes course. This song was not something I was able to find. The lyrics that I could hear were talking about “turning up the music”, which doesn’t narrow it down much when you’re looking for these background songs in movies… It was not credited either.

The score of The Suite Life Movie was composed by John Van Tongeren, who had previously worked on the music for other DCOMs, including Twitches (2005) and Twitches Too (2007); Princess Protection Program (2009); and Den Brother (2010).

PRODUCTION

The Suite Life Movie could never have existed had it not been for two twins terrorising their mother with their antics in a fancy, upmarket hotel.

The first episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody aired on Disney Channel on 18^th March 2005. This pilot introduced audiences to Zack and Cody, and their reasons for living in the Tipton Hotel in Boston. This is because their mother, Carey, was the hotel’s lounge singer. We were also introduced to other main characters, like London Tipton, the hotel heiress; Maddie, the hotel’s candy counter girl; Esteban, the hotel bellhop; Arwin, the hotel’s janitor; and of course, Mr. Moseby, the hotel manager.

Season 1 of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ran from 18^th March 2005 to 27^th January 2006. A second season began almost immediately afterwards, on 3^rd February 2006, running until 2^nd June 2007. The third season of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was their last, commencing on 23^rd June 2007 and ending on 1^st September 2008.

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody is still remembered today for specific moments from its episodes. Who can forget that episode from Season 3, “Lip Synchin’ in the Rain”, which saw Disney Channel mess with their own canon, by having Maddie, played by Ashley Tisdale, not get the part of Sharpay Evans in a school production of High School Musical, despite Ashley Tisdale playing the role in real life! Instead, London got the part and Maddie had to lip sync for her. There was also the episode, “Commercial Breaks”, from Season 1 which ended with an all-singing, all-dancing fictional commercial for the Tipton Hotel. And last but not least, London’s driving lesson where she taught us all about “the PRNDL”, something that even Camila Cabello referenced on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Brenda Song said she even had her driving examiner say to her to make sure she put the PRNDL in park at the end of her test[2]! There was also the crossover episode “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana”.

The reviews for the show were great across all three seasons. The programme received accolades such as winning a Young Artist Award in 2007 for Best Family TV Series (Comedy). Back in 2006, Brenda Song won the Superstar of Tomorrow and Role Model awards at the Young Hollywood Awards for her role as London Tipton. Dylan Sprouse won a Kids’ Choice award for Favorite TV Actor in 2009 too. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program in 2007 and nominated for Favorite TV Show at the Kids’ Choice Awards in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Technically, in terms of air date, the final episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody was “Mr. Tipton Comes to Visit”. The storyline was that Mr. Tipton was coming to the hotel, seemingly to give a huge bonus to one lucky employee. This led to many flashback moments from the series as the team reminisced about the good moments they’d had working in the hotel. However, when Mr. Tipton arrives he is in a bad mood and plans to fire someone. It looks like Carey is going to be fired because of the twins, but instead, the boys bribe Muriel, the now-retired hotel maid, into coming back for Mr. Tipton’s visit. She refuses to clean up a broken vase and is promptly fired – but since she’s retired, it doesn’t matter!

But the actual final episode of the series is really “Let Us Entertain You”. In this episode, the boys and Carey go on the SS Tipton cruise ship for a “vacation”, although Zack and Cody have managed to get them on the ship only if Carey sings as part of the cruise entertainment. Carey refuses to sing, wanting a proper vacation, but when she discovers that her experience on the cruise will be seriously downgraded if she does not, she relents and says she will sing. However, Carey becomes seriously sun burnt after falling asleep in the sun and is now unable to sing. Zack and Cody go on for her instead.

The events from “Let Us Entertain You” set the scene for the spin-off series, The Suite Life on Deck, which premiered on Disney Channel on 26^th September 2008, just a few weeks after The Suite Life of Zack & Cody officially ended. The pilot episode of this new series is “The Suite Life Sets Sail”. Here, Mr. Moseby is revealed to be the cruise ship manager, and London Tipton is coming on board to attend Seven Seas High School, to stop her from skipping classes like she did at regular high school. Zack and Cody are joining her, much to Moseby’s dismay, with Carey not staying on board to look after them. Other characters were introduced during the show, as Zack, Cody, London, and Mr. Moseby were the only main characters to return, such as fellow students of Seven Seas High: Bailey Pickett, Woody Fink, and Marcus Little.

Throughout the lifetime of the show, the characters got to travel all over the world, with one episode focusing on the Bermuda Triangle, and another seeing the group travel over the International Dateline. They also visited Greece, Sweden, Morocco, and Paris. There was also another Disney Channel crossover episode, called “Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana”. Season 1 of The Suite Life of Deck ran from 26^th September 2008 to 17^th July 2009. Season 2 began on 7^th August 2009, running until 18^th June 2010. The third and final season ran from 2^nd July 2010 to 6^th May 2011. The Suite Life on Deck received generally favourable reviews, however, many viewers felt it was not quite as good as the original show. It received a nomination for Favorite TV Show at both the 2010 and 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards, with Dylan Sprouse picking up the award for Favorite TV Actor in 2010.

Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan created both shows, with the concept for The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, of two boys living in a posh hotel, originating back in the mid-1980s, when Kallis and Geoghan were working as writers on the sitcom Silver Spoons (1982-87), about a wealthy man whose son, who he has never met before, moves in to his mansion[3].

The Suite Life Movie began production in September 2010, being referred to as the seventh Disney Channel series to get its own Disney Channel Original Movie – this number seems to include Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2^nd Dimension, and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! despite both of these airing months after The Suite Life Movie in 2011. The most recent one prior to The Suite Life Movie to air on Disney Channel was Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), which had done exceptionally well in terms of viewing figures, securing 11.4 million on its premiere, and ranking as 2009’s No. 1 scripted cable TV telecast.

The Suite Life Movie was directed by Sean McNamara. For Disney Channel, McNamara had previously directed some episodes of The Even Stevens (2000-03) and went on to direct The Even Stevens Movie (2003). McNamara also directed episodes of other Disney series such as That’s So Raven (2003-07) and Zeke and Luther (2009-12). The writers of The Suite Life Movie were Michael Saltzman, who worked on the story of the 2006 The Pink Panther Movie, and Robert Horn, who co-wrote the Broadway musical 13, and wrote the High School Musical spin-off movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011)[4].

The Suite Life Movie was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, with many of the locations being in Vancouver. The Vancouver Aquarium was used as the setting of the biology research facility where Cody, Zack, and Mr. Moseby visit Dr. Spaulding early on in the film. The setting of the Gemini Project was reportedly Camp Howdy in Vancouver[5]. Around this area, Dylan and Cole Sprouse were required to film some “stunts” which involved them on a high ropes course, tackling obstacles like nets and zip wires. Because at this point in the movie, Zack and Cody have not been a part of the research group for long, they are not moving in perfect unison on this course like the other sets of twins are, so this meant lots of slamming into nets and struggling on different parts of the course[6]. It all looked very fun to me. What appeared to be less fun was Dylan and Cole’s jump into a freezing cold lake at 9 o’clock at night, for the scene where they are trying to avoid capture by all the twins. The twins said they had wetsuits on and multiple layers of clothing which kept them warm, but it seemed some of the other actors – as the twins are surrounded by others in the lake – didn’t keep quite as warm and struggled with the cold[7].

The Suite Life Movie kept mentioning the fact that the boys and their friends would be graduating from Seven Seas High soon. This meant that one further episode was needed to wrap up The Suite Life on Deck, which is why the finale episode, “Graduation on Deck”, was the very last episode of the franchise to air on Disney Channel on 6^th May 2011, just over a month after the movie had premiered.

In “Graduation on Deck”, the students of Seven Seas High learn that Mr. Tipton is going to dismantle the SS Tipton as they prepare for final exams and graduation. Cody discovers he was rejected from Yale, throwing his college plans into disarray, especially as girlfriend Bailey did get accepted. Zack and Cody’s mother and father both arrive for graduation, where Bailey says that Cody didn’t get into Yale and won’t leave his cabin. Zack is also upset that his girlfriend, Maya, is going off to Chad in Africa for a Peace Core assignment, so neither Zack nor Cody want to attend graduation. The boys then convince the other to go to the ceremony. During the speeches, construction workers begin dismantling parts of the deck. Mr. Moseby calls Mr. Tipton, ordering him to stop the destruction of the ship as he is destroying his daughter’s graduation. Soon, the SS Tipton docks and the students prepare to depart the ship. Mr. Moseby also proposes to the Seven Seas High teacher, Ms. Tutweiller, and she accepts. There are some tearful goodbyes as everyone goes their separate ways. Many felt this was a fitting ending for the show and the franchise as a whole, which is not exactly how they felt about the movie…

RECEPTION

The Suite Life Movie premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 25^th March 2011.

The movie pulled in 5.2 million total viewers on its premiere, making it the top scripted programme of the day across all TV[8]. By the end of 2011, The Suite Life Movie’s viewership was beaten by three other DCOMs: Lemonade Mouth, with 5.7 million; Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas!; with 6.9 million; and Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2^nd Dimension with 7.6 million, which was the top viewed DCOM of the year.

Reviews of The Suite Life Movie have been very mixed, with slightly more negative comments than positive. DCOMs generally receive quite mixed reviews, so this was not unusual, however, even fans of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck were quite disappointed with The Suite Life Movie, especially as it followed on from a pretty good series. Many said The Suite Life Movie felt out of place, very unlike the series, and was mostly forgettable. Many also said The Suite Life Movie was not as good as the other science-fiction-based DCOM of 2011 Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2^nd Dimension, which I would agree with. There were others as well who were annoyed that seemingly some of The Suite Life on Deck plot points had been forgotten or ignored in the film, like the fact Zack was in a relationship with a girl called Maya in the series but in the movie, Zack is chasing after Nellie. I just thought that was very much how Zack always was! There was also annoyance that London, Bailey, Woody, and Mr. Moseby didn’t have anything to do in The Suite Life Movie and should’ve had a better side plot written for them. This is something I have already said I agree with.

On the more positive side, some felt the movie was fun and entertaining, with a nice message about empathy and getting on with your siblings. Others enjoyed the “twist” ending too, with the reveal that Dr. Olsen was in fact Dr. Spaulding’s twin brother. I didn’t guess that until a few minutes before it happened, although I’m sure some might’ve guessed it much earlier on in the film, making the “twist” less exciting. It was also thought that The Suite Life Movie might as well be watched because it was quite a short movie, only around 80 minutes long, and if you’d watched both the previous series, you may as well have seen it to be a “completist”. The general consensus seemed to be that viewers either saw The Suite Life Movie as just average, or just bad. I’m afraid I’m in the latter group.

LEGACY

After The Suite Life on Deck had ended in May 2011, there would be no further projects for Zack and Cody on the Disney Channel. The actors were all moving on to new things.

Apparently, Dylan and Cole Sprouse had in fact pitched a fourth season of The Suite Life on Deck. This concept would’ve seen Zack and Cody return to Boston, where they would mentor a young boy living in the hotel, setting up this other character to have their own show. Disney passed on this idea, but later came back to the twins to pitch a similar idea. This time, the new show was going to be set in Miami with Selena Gomez reportedly attached to the project. The Sprouse twins were the ones to pass this time round.

There was also a spin-off that was meant to happen, surrounding hotel engineer Arwin, with Selena Gomez set to play his niece, but this never happened either. I’m going to assume this spin-off would’ve taken place after The Suite Life of Zack & Cody had finished airing or around that time, and not after the whole The Suite Life franchise had ended[9].

But there was one further screen production that did come to be after The Suite Life on Deck: The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir, an Indian adaptation of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which ran for two seasons on Disney Channel India. The first season ran from 8^th April 2012 to 1^st July 2012, with the second running from 27^th January 2013 to 18^th August 2013.

Now that Disney Channel has made successes of rebooting and reviving some of their old programmes, such as Raven’s Home (2017-23) and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024-present), many have begun speculating about whether there will be a reboot of The Suite Life. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but recently, Dylan Sprouse confirmed his disinterest in being part of a The Suite Life revival, stating that this trend risks removing the nostalgia and magic of the original series, so it is best to just move on with your life and keep those memories untainted. I completely agree with Dylan Sprouse’s take on revivals, however, Dylan did also say you can “never say never”[10]. On the contrary, Brenda Song said that she would reprise her role as London Tipton if ever the opportunity did arise, since she loved playing the character[11]. Regardless of whether a reboot does or does not happen, the actors seem to keep in touch with each other, which is always good to see.

Outside of any screen adaptations, there was one other thing from The Suite Life on Deck which was remembered over ten years later. This was a moment in the Season 1 episode “When In Rome” where Zack and Cody are trying to get a reservation at a fancy Italian restaurant. They are told they can have a reservation – for 16^th November 2023. So, on that date, there were many references to this moment online. Disney Parks even released a short video to their social media where a waitress tells Zack and Cody their table is ready – but obviously they do not show up. This video seems to have been recorded at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.

Also at the Disney Parks, but this time at Disneyland, there was a small photo op at Disneyland After Dark: Disney Channel Nite in March 2024 featuring a backdrop of one of the corridors of the Tipton Hotel with a luggage trolley that guests could hang on to for a picture. There was also a The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Disney pin being sold a while ago.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Suite Life Movie may not have been my cup of tea, but I can’t really say I’ve ever been a die-hard fan of the series, and I certainly was not a big fan of The Suite Life on Deck, so my criticism of the movie might seem a bit harsh, especially if you were a longtime childhood fan of the series and remember the DCOM fondly. But there were also many fans of the show who were disappointed in The Suite Life Movie for multiple reasons. For me, it was the strange sci-fi plot. It was just too random and not very “Suite Life”.

Despite the message about getting on with your siblings and having empathy for others, even if you are very different people, I didn’t come away from The Suite Life Movie thinking about it much. The concept of someone trying to merge people together and then control them forever, under the guise of creating world peace, was too disturbing that it took away from the overall message.

Some reviews said this movie was forgettable. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it, no matter how hard I try…

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Kayleigh Banks, ‘Woody Fink From The Suite Life On Deck Explained’, ScreenRant.com, 11^th June 2023.

[2] Credit: The Kelly Clarkson Show, ‘Brenda Song Reacts To Camila Cabello ‘PRNDL’ Story’, The Kelly Clarkson Show YouTube Channel, 3^rd March 2025.

[3] Credit: Tierney Bricker, ’15 Secrets About The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Including the “Worst” Kiss With Zac Efron’, EOnline.com, 18^th March 2020.

[4] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Production to Begin on “The Suite Life Movie” for Disney Channel’, TheFutonCritic.com, 20^th September 2010.

[5] Credit: TigerBeat TV, ‘EXCLUSIVE: We’re on The Suite Life Movie Set!’, TigerBeat TV YouTube Channel, 18^th February 2011.

[6] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘DCOM Extra: The Zip Line – The Suite Life Movie – Disney Channel Official’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 11^th March 2011.

[7] Credit: Popstar!, ‘DYLAN SPROUSE On Filming the Water Scene in “The Suite Life on Deck” Movie!’, Popstar! YouTube Channel, 22^nd December 2010.

[8] Credit: Scott Collins, ‘‘The Suite Life Movie’ on Disney was Friday’s most-watched scripted TV show’, LATimes.com, 28^th March 2011.

[9] Credit: Tierney Bricker, ’15 Secrets About The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Including the “Worst” Kiss With Zac Efron’, EOnline.com, 18^th March 2020.

[10] Credit: Kristen Maldonado, ‘This Is Why Dylan Sprouse Is Not Interested In A Suite Life Reboot’, Kristen Maldonado YouTube Channel, 12^th February 2024.

[11] Credit: Liz Foster, ‘The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Revival Addressed By London Tipton Actor: “She’s My Literal Dream Character”’, ScreenRant.com, 28^th February 2025.

21st Feb 202530th Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

Minutemen (2008)

BACKGROUND

Disney Channel Original Movies cover all manner of themes and topics.

Some of their most popular, and most relatable, are those that focus on life as a teenager or troubles at high school. Everyone has been through difficult experiences at that age, so making a DCOM based on that is an easy way of engaging an audience. These types of movies were the ones I watched more of on Disney Channel.

However, Disney Channel has also been known to stray into other areas, such as delving into the genres of fantasy and science-fiction, although many of these are still grounded in school and teenage life, such as Twitches (2005); Halloweentown (1998); How to Build a Better Boy (2014) – and the 2008 DCOM Minutemen.

You can probably be forgiven for not having heard of or watched Minutemen whilst it was on Disney Channel. I will admit that I was not the first one to it, because the most exciting new DCOM to come to the channel in 2008 for me was Camp Rock. After the success of High School Musical (2006), Disney Channel had upped their game in all areas of their programming, but none more so than in their musical DCOMs. I also enjoyed watching the third instalment of the Cheetah Girls franchise, The Cheetah Girls: One World, that year. Disney Channel is known for its musical movies, with these tending to be the highest rated. Minutemen was the only other DCOM released in 2008, but it passed me by. I remember it being advertised, but it just didn’t appeal to me like the musicals did.

I don’t actually know when I found Minutemen, but it was at least a couple of years later. I was more interested in watching it after its premiere because it meant that I was more familiar with some of its leading actors by the time I found it, just randomly one day. Jason Dolley and Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, were frequently seen on Disney Channel in the 2000s and early 2010s, so it helped me like it, despite not being too interested in the concept of time travel, a major part of the storyline of Minutemen.

I believe I had only seen Minutemen once in full before this week, so that obviously means that it didn’t become an instant favourite for me. I took me a while to appreciate any type of science fiction film, even Back to the Future (1985), which is referenced numerous times in Minutemen, so I’m not surprised my teenage self wasn’t bothered by it. But re-watching this week, I was impressed with the storyline and the level of acting by the young stars. I did enjoy it, but not as much as other DCOMs.

PLOT

Minutemen begins on the first day of high school at Summerton High School for three friends, Virgil, Derek, and Stephanie. Stephanie worries that high school might change them, as she is going to try out to be a cheerleader, and Derek is planning on joining the school’s football team. During try-outs for football and cheerleading, with Virgil watching nearby, a kid on a jet-propelled kart comes onto the field. This is Charlie, a kid genius who has skipped grades because of his intellect. Because of Charlie ruining football try-outs, the football players circle Charlie and start to bully him. Virgil tries to diffuse the situation, but it makes everything worse: they end up dressed as cheerleaders and tied to the school’s ram statue.

Three years later, everything has changed for the trio of friends. Derek is now a jock, and his girlfriend is Stephanie, who did become a cheerleader. Virgil has remained friends with Charlie – the joint bullying experience must’ve bonded them – though he is resentful that, in his Senior Year, he still hangs out with “nerds”. Although Virgil and Stephanie continue to talk on occasion, things between Virgil and Derek are different.

During class, Charlie bursts into Virgil’s class and tells him there is an “AV Club emergency”. Virgil follows Charlie to the computer lab, where Charlie shows Virgil a simulation of practical time travel. Virgil doesn’t believe it’ll work, but Charlie manages to convince him to go along with the crazy scheme of becoming time travellers. Charlie says they need another person to help them. Virgil approaches new kid, Zeke, who comes across as the bad-boy-loner type. The three meet to discuss the project and Zeke agrees to it.

The group begin to build their time machine, having managed to convince Vice Principal Tolkan to let them set up a new club and base it in Room 77 after giving him change for the vending machine. Room 77 was Charlie’s pick for their “club” as it is a huge basement, originally set to be the school’s fallout shelter. Over time, they clean up the basement, and start to get – or steal, I can’t really tell – parts for their machine. Once it is fully built, all three of them are too scared to try it out, so Virgil and Zeke pick up Charlie’s cat, Albert Felinestein, put goggles on it, and throw it into the machine’s vortex. Charlie is furious, but the cat comes out alive, just a bit frosty. They look at the watch they strapped to the cat and it is one minute behind, proving that the cat went back in time.

The next day, all three of them are brave enough to go into the time travel vortex themselves, wrapping up warm to avoid frostbite. Charlie warns them that they only have ten minutes to go back in time and come back, or else they may explode. Nice. The trio arrive in the past and realise it is yesterday. They quickly go to a shop to buy a lottery ticket with the correct numbers so they can win the jackpot the next day, however, they are refused the sale as they are not old enough to purchase the ticket. The three go to the “living statue” outside and ask him to buy the ticket, giving him the list of numbers and telling him to keep the ticket to give to them the next day as they need to get back to the present. On their return, they rush over to the shop to find the man did buy the lottery ticket – but kept the winning ticket for himself! Can we trust no-one these days?!

Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke then discuss a different purpose for their time travel machine, as Charlie didn’t like the idea of buying a lottery ticket anyway because it is cheating. Good for you, Charlie; you stick to your morals. They then see Chester, one of Charlie and Virgil’s less-than-popular friends. Football players have stolen Chester’s clothes, leaving him to run through the school halls naked. This gives the boys an idea. They’ll use their time travel ability to help embarrassed high school kids!

Just as the three are about to go back in time, Charlie realises that they really ought to have someone stay back to monitor the machine and make sure there are no problems. The boys argue about who will have to stay and miss all the fun, when a girl called Jeanette comes into the room, wanting to be a part of the “Back to the Future Fan Club”, the cover name for the time travelling. This gives Zeke and Virgil an idea; Jeanette can be the one to stay back. Charlie isn’t so sure he wants anyone else to be let in on the secret, but he eventually agrees – and Jeanette has a crush on Charlie so she’s happy to be a part of their gang, regardless of what it means. Though she does want to do something about their time travel outfits. Luckily, her dad owns a ski shop so she equips them with white ski suits and goggles to give them an air of mystery and legitimacy to their time travelling. They name themselves “The Minutemen”.

The three go back in time and help Chester by giving him clothes to wear. As their outfits conceal their faces and identities, the mystery group soon become popular at school as they continue to help other kids. Vice Principal Tolkan, however, is not impressed by these “Snowsuit Guys”, who he keeps seeing running about the school without permission. Tolkan vows to find and punish them.

Meanwhile, employees at Pacific Tech have been monitoring high readings and power surges that seem to be coming specifically from Summerton High School. It turns out the FBI is also investigating, covertly following Zeke, Charlie, and Virgil. This leads Charlie to admit to having hacked NASA, stealing some files they had from the 1960s related to time travel. Zeke and Virgil are furious with Charlie for getting them mixed up in something illegal, but Charlie assures them that if they just lay low for a while and don’t time travel, everything should be fine. Virgil isn’t too bothered by this anyway, because he’s annoyed at not getting proper credit for the good work they’re doing. Plus, the students all call them the “Snowsuit Guys”, even though that isn’t their name. AND the kids they have helped have all become kind of obnoxious…However, Virgil soon finds an important reason for them to time travel again. He is told by Stephanie that she has got accepted to her preferred college, but on a cheerleading scholarship. The next day, Virgil comes into school to discover that Stephanie has broken her leg after falling from a cheerleading pyramid. A broken leg will most definitely cost Stephanie her scholarship, so Virgil convinces Zeke and Charlie to go back in time to help her. The three agree to do that, and Virgil manages to catch Stephanie as she falls, saving her leg, but also giving himself away in the process.

Stephanie confronts Virgil the next day, saying she knows he is one of the “Snowsuit Guys”. As Virgil believes they have been rumbled, he admits to Stephanie that him, Zeke, and Charlie are time travellers. Stephanie is in awe of this; she was just going to say they must be psychic! Charlie continues to feel uneasy about their use of the time machine, feeling that it is having repercussions in the real world. But Virgil continues to find reasons to use it. Stephanie comes to Virgil with Derek, asking for his help as Derek was distracted during a football game, and cost the team the win. Derek begs Virgil for his help, saying that he’s sorry for everything that happened between them, reiterating that he tried to get the football players to stop during that incident on their first day of high school. Virgil wants to be popular so he agrees to help Derek. Derek is grateful to Virgil and starts inviting him to parties, but this leads to Virgil ignoring Zeke and Charlie. Soon after, Virgil gets a call from Stephanie in tears, saying she saw Derek cheating on her with mean girl Jocelyn. Virgil goes to comfort her. Derek then calls Stephanie, wanting to talk but she won’t take him back. Derek begs Virgil to go back in time to stop that event from happening.

As Virgil wonders what to do – help Derek get Stephanie back, or let things run their course and hope that him and Stephanie can finally be together – he is thrown in a van and taken to a warehouse. There, the FBI confront the boys, telling them they know that the boys stole information from NASA and have been using it to time travel. The boys refuse to admit anything and are free to go. The FBI will continue to monitor their activities. The three go their separate ways, their friendship and hopes of time travel destroyed.

But Virgil goes on alone, telling Derek he will take him back in time to stop Stephanie seeing him with Jocelyn on the day of the school dance. Virgil goes to the dance with Stephanie, but he is pulled away by Derek, wanting to go back in time now. The students all follow them, believing there will be a fight. In the meantime, Charlie has discovered that their time travelling led to the creation of a black hole on the school field. He confesses to the FBI, telling them they have about four hours to save the world. The FBI and Charlie storm the school to get Zeke, Virgil, and Charlie together to stop the black hole from consuming everything. There is only an hour left at this point so the guys suit up and walk to the black hole, ready to jump in, students clapping and cheering them, as their identities are revealed.

The ”Minutemen” jump into the black hole, and fall into the local park. Using a remote machine that Charlie whipped up, they begin to reverse the polarity. Charlie believes they have about twenty minutes until they can return. They then go to the school to try and stop past Charlie accessing the component he used to make his time travel machine, something to do with that kart, because they’ve found they are back at their first day of high school. At the same time, Virgil wants to change what happened that day, so he never became “a nerd”. Charlie is hurt by this, telling Virgil that day was also the day that Charlie finally found a real friend. Charlie and Zeke walk away, leaving Virgil to do whatever he plans to do. Virgil watches over the scene below, and discovers that Derek never tried to stop the bullying, like he claimed, but was actually a part of it.

Charlie and Zeke discover that the portal is collapsing and don’t have enough time to get back through it. Suddenly, Virgil rides up in Charlie’s old kart, having changed nothing about the bullying incident. He drives the three of them to the portal – but accidentally goes the wrong way. They’ll never make it in time! Oh, but wait. Zeke has that grappling hook he takes with him on every time travel escapade. He uses the hook and sends the kart in the right direction. The kart destroys the town on the way but they get through the portal in time.

They land, in their ski suits, back at school, on what was the day they first time travelled. As they walk through the school, they see that nobody knows anything about them or the “Snowsuit Guys”. Their mission was a success. Virgil goes to the library where he spoke to Stephanie that day, and tells Derek that he knows what he did that first day of high school and that he knows Derek is cheating on Stephanie with Jocelyn. Virgil then tells Stephanie he likes her; she says she feels the same. Charlie also kisses Jeanette, just before Zeke and Virgil can remind him that Jeanette hasn’t kissed him yet, as she had done before they went into the black hole…She doesn’t mind though. Charlie then starts to talk to Virgil and Zeke about a new idea around teleportation. The two quickly carry him away, not wanting to get mixed up in any more of Charlie’s “experiments”.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Virgil Fox initially seems hopeful about his first day of high school. He’s got his two best friends with him, what more does he need? But one event can change everything, and from that point, although Virgil has made new friends, he has become frustrated that he has become associated with “nerds”. Although Virgil talks and listens to Charlie, for most of the movie it seems like he merely tolerates him. Virgil seems to blame Charlie specifically for his problems. I hate to break it to him, but if Stephanie and Derek were going to be a cheerleader and a jock respectively, then the chances are their friendship wouldn’t have lasted anyway. Popularity does strange things to people. And in that scenario, Virgil would’ve been all alone, even without Charlie to call his friend. When Charlie comes up with the idea of time travel, suddenly, Virgil thinks this is quite cool – but once again, Virgil uses it as an opportunity to become popular and more liked amongst other students. It doesn’t really work that way until Stephanie learns about it and she tells Derek. But when Virgil gets the chance to go back and change his first day of high school so he never met Charlie and became unpopular, he doesn’t do it. I never thought Virgil was going to go and do that, because, although I’ve made him sound like a bad guy, he’s not.

Virgil does have some unresolved issues, there’s no doubt about that, and he forgets who his real friends are at times, yet he’s still a likeable character. This is all down to the actor, because Virgil could’ve ended up as a terrible main character if the wrong person was cast. Jason Dolley was cast as Virgil. Dolley had a long career with Disney Channel, beginning with the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006), where he played Connor. Dolley went on to star as Newt in the series Cory in the House (2007-08), and then as Pete in the DCOM Hatching Pete (2009). Dolley later was cast as PJ Duncan in Good Luck Charlie (2010-14) and its DCOM, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). After this, he appeared as Kevin in the ABC series American Housewife (2016-21). Most recently, Dolley wrote and starred in the short film The Unicorn That Never Lies (2024).

Charlie Tuttle hasn’t had an easy time at high school, because he is so much younger – and smarter – than everyone else. He’s an easy target for bullying and thanks to Virgil coming to his rescue on that first day, Charlie finds he does have a friend, someone he can talk to and who might stick up for him. Charlie is a genius; however, his high-achieving personality leads to him getting himself into trouble. Just because the possibility of time travel is waiting to be discovered doesn’t mean you should hack into NASA and steal their old research on the subject. Charlie is ecstatic to have figured out how to time travel, but he soon discovers that his, Virgil, and Zeke’s actions have caused damage to the world, culminating in a black hole. Charlie admits that he made a mistake and finds a way to resolve it. He just wanted to advance the world of science; he never meant to destroy it!

Charlie Tuttle was played by Luke Benward, who had already starred in the film How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as Billy Forrester prior to his role in Minutemen. Benward went on to appear as Alan Wheddon in Dear John (2010); and came back to Disney Channel to star in the DCOMs Girl vs. Monster (2012) as Ryan, and Cloud 9 (2014) as Will Cloud. Benward also appeared as Beau, Teddy’s boyfriend, in the final season of Good Luck Charlie (2010-14). After Disney, he went on to be cast as Dillon Sanders in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off series Ravenswood (2013-14) and as Bo Larson in the Netflix movie Dumplin’ (2018).

Zeke Thompson is a new student at Summerton High School, first seen as he arrives to school on a motorbike. He seems like the silent, loner type, but Charlie and Virgil notice that he has engineering skills which may be useful to their time travel project. Although it might seem that Zeke doesn’t have time to hang out with science geeks, he is intrigued by this plan and agrees to help them; Zeke thinks the idea of time travel is cool. Much of the plot resolves around Virgil and Charlie’s friendship, and the dynamic between Virgil, Stephanie, and Derek, so Zeke doesn’t get all that focus, however, he helps find students who might need their time travel experience to avoid embarrassment and he is loyal to the cause, sticking firmly with Charlie on points, such as not betraying each other to the FBI, and not continuing to time travel when things start to look tricky.

Nicholas Braun also had a bit of history with Disney. Prior to his casting as Zeke, he was cast as Zach in the Disney movie Sky High (2005). After Minutemen, he went on to appear as Ed in the DCOM Princess Protection Program (2009), and then as Lloyd in Disney’s Prom (2011), which was not a DCOM, though it does feel like one. Since his “Disney days”, Braun has become an incredibly successful actor, appearing as Michael in Date and Switch (2014), alongside Dakota Johnson and Sarah Hyland, and as Josh in How to Be Single (2016), which also featured Dakota Johnson, and Rebel Wilson. He is perhaps most known for his role as Greg Hirsch in the critically-acclaimed series Succession (2018-23). Recently, Braun portrayed both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman in the movie Saturday Night (2024) and is set to star in the movie Famous alongside fellow Disney alumni Zac Efron and Debby Ryan.

Moving on, Stephanie Jameson was one of Virgil’s closest friends before high school. At high school, though, things are a little bit different. Stephanie is a cheerleader, but she does make time to speak to Virgil. She’s not like one of those awful cheerleaders you see in movies who drop all their friends when they finally become popular. Stephanie isn’t actually all that happy about being popular. She thinks Virgil and his friends look much happier than any of the popular kids ever do. Virgil is smitten with Stephanie, and for once, I was actually rooting for the “nerd” to win the heart of the popular girl, because she was just so nice!

Chelsea Staub, now known as Chelsea Kane, was cast as Stephanie. Like the three actors I’ve just talked about, Kane also had a history with Disney Channel. After Minutemen, she went on to star as Stella Malone, alongside the Jonas Brothers, in the Disney series Jonas (2009-10), before being cast as Alexis Bender in StarStruck (2010), alongside Sterling Knight. Also for Disney, Kane voiced the character of Bea Goldfishberg in Fish Hooks (2010-14). Outside of Disney, Kane placed third in Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars and played the part of Riley in the ABC series Baby Daddy (2012-17). She returned to voice acting again in 2019 to voice the character of Loy for the series Archibald’s Next Big Thing (2019-21).

Then there is Virgil’s ex-best friend Derek Beaugard. For most of Minutemen, Derek is also Stephanie’s boyfriend, but he turns out to be a cheater – big surprise there – so Stephanie dumps him. Derek then asks Virgil to take him back in time to avoid the moment that Stephanie saw him with another girl. Derek convinces Virgil to do this because he claims that during that bullying incident on their first day of high school he tried to get the other football players to stop doing what they were doing. Well, it’s a good thing that big, black hole stopped Virgil from helping Derek because it turns out Derek is a liar as well as cheat, actually contributing to the football players’ bullying of Charlie and Virgil, and not stopping it, as Virgil sees when they go back in time to save the world. Derek is just awful.

Steven R. McQueen was cast as Derek. He went on to be cast as Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries (2009-17), and then as Jimmy Borrelli in Seasons 4 and 5 of Chicago Fire (2012-present). Oh, and that girl Derek was caught with was, Jocelyn, was played by Kellie Cockrell, who might look familiar to Halloweentown fans, as she played Sapphire Sinister in Return to Halloweentown (2006).

Then there are a couple of Virgil and Charlie’s friends to mention. One is Chester, who is frequently bullied by the jocks, but once Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke go back in time to help him one day, Chester becomes a real jerk, ignoring Virgil and Charlie, who only risked their lives to stop him being humiliated, and even starts to bully the jocks. All returns to normal, though, once the Minutemen go back and sort out that black hole. Then, there is Jeanette. Jeanette is a bit weird and hyper, coming on a little bit too strong for the socially awkward Charlie when she’s trying to show she has feelings for him. Eventually, Charlie learns to love Jeanette’s quirks and they become an oddly cute couple.

Chester was played by Dexter Darden. Darden went on to be cast as Frypan in The Maze Runner trilogy (2014-18) and appeared as DeVante in the reboot series of Saved by the Bell (2020-21). Most recently, he portrayed Muhammad Ali in the Peacock miniseries Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (2024), which starred Kevin Hart. Jeanette was played by Kara Crane, who went on to guest star in episodes of series like The Suite Life on Deck (2008-11); The Mindy Project (2012-17); and Baby Daddy (2012-17).

Finally, there is Vice Principal Tolkan. Tolkan isn’t bothered by the bullying epidemic he clearly has going on at his school, not even batting an eyelid when he sees a student trapped in a vending machine. Instead, he’s bothered about getting the right coins to get the snack he wants. Tolkan is happy to let “the normal order” take precedent over basic human rights, but that does mean that when Chester becomes a bully to the jocks, Tolkan suddenly wants to discipline because that goes against the status quo. What is it with DCOMs and corrupt teachers. We have Tolkan here; we had Brenigan in Lemonade Mouth (2011); where does it end? Vice Principal Tolkan was played J.P. Manoux, who should be familiar to Disney Channel fans for playing Vice Principal Hackett in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future (2004-06). He also replaced David Spade from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) as the voice Kuzco in The Emperor’s New School (2006-08), and voiced the character of Mr. Fraley in the Disney Channel animated series The Replacements (2006-09).

MUSIC

Minutemen isn’t a movie packed with songs, but one in particular was familiar to me.

This song was “Like Whoa”, performed by Aly & AJ, which played during Virgil, Zeke, and Charlie’s building of their time machine. It was written by Aly and AJ Michalka – who themselves starred in the DCOM Cow Belles (2006) – Antonina Armato, and Tim James. “Like Whoa” was part of Aly & AJ’s second album Insomniatic, released in 2007.

Another song I instantly recognised as being performed by Corbin Bleu, although I had not heard the song before, was “Run It Back Again”, which can be heard during the montage of the Minutemen helping students and being investigated by the FBI. “Run It Back Again” was written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil. The music video features clips from Minutemen. It is also a track on Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 10, released in January 2008.

At the party that Virgil attends with Derek and Stephanie, I believe the song “Thinking About It…Baby” is playing, which was written and performed by Salme Dahlstrom. At the school dance, there is also a song that sounds a bit like “Johnny B. Goode” being played by the school band. When Stephanie and Virgil dance later, there is a different song playing. These seem to just be riffs on 1950s songs, since that is the theme of the school dance, and it’s a small reference to Back to the Future, and its setting of 1955. There is no information on these songs and they are not credited.

One final song to mention that is also not credited is the music that is playing during the End Credits. This is a mini-blooper scene that turns into a dance party with all the cast and crew. All I know is that the song goes “put your hands up, put your hands up, put your ha-ha-ha-ha-hands up”. I tried to search for it, tried Shazam, but it doesn’t exist apparently.

Nathan Wang is credited as the composer for Minutemen. Wang has composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006); and Christmas…Again? (2021), amongst many other non-Disney projects.

PRODUCTION

Science fiction is a common genre in entertainment, both on-screen and off.

On-screen, some of the most popular science fiction franchises have involved space travel, such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Although space travel is advancing, we are not yet living in a world that looks anything like those in science fiction films. However, others in this genre have become less science fiction and more “science fact”.

Some science fiction movies that have been focused on getting the science right include Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), whose plot has a basis in theoretical physics, and Ridley Scott’s The Martian (2015), which follows an astronaut’s attempts to survive on Mars[1]. A movie that comes somewhere in between science fiction and “science fact” is Back to the Future, one of the most popular science fiction franchises ever, in itself an inspiration to other science fiction films. Minutemen takes some ideas from this movie in its own exploration into time travel.

For fans of Back to the Future, there are many subtle references within Minutemen, aside from the time travelling storyline. One is that Charlie has named his pet, in this case a cat, after Einstein, and Doc Brown did the same with his dog in Back to the Future. Jeanette can also be seen at one point looking at the school newspaper, which changes its headlines as soon as the Minutemen have changed the past; this is something that happens in Back to the Future. You might also notice that Virgil’s last name, “Fox”, the same as that of Marty McFly actor Michael J. Fox, and that Vice Principal Tolkan is named after actor James Tolkan, who played Principal Strickland in the movie. A big mention of the movie comes in the fact that the boys named their club, the “Back to the Future Fan Club”. Obviously, they knew that they were re-enacting the movie in real-life.

I could go into detail about the never-ending problems with the scientific inaccuracies and plot holes that exist within Minutemen and Back to the Future that others have somehow had time to find. I’m not going to do that, because I don’t really care about accuracy in movies like this, because there is too much still to be discovered in the world of science. I will instead mention just one.

Time travel is not currently physically possible, however, theoretically, it has been discussed with many possible outcomes. For example, one theory that neither Back to the Future nor Minutemen manage to follow is the “grandfather paradox”. The example used to explain it says that if a time traveller went back in time and killed his grandfather before he could have children, then this would mean the time traveller never existed, so couldn’t actually go back in time to do that. In Minutemen, the boys go back in time to fix issues and return to the present to find that it’s like they never happened. This goes against the grandfather paradox. This theory led to the belief that travelling backwards in time was not possible, and has caused many viewers of movies like this to comment on inaccuracy.

But there have since been discussions, including theories from Stephen Hawking, that debate whether it is possible to travel back in time, at least to an earlier point in time that you’ve already been to. This would mean that Minutemen could work, however, this relies on the fact that things would be unalterable in that past timeline – which Minutemen does not stick to. Alternatively, there is a lot of discussion about quantum physics and parallel timelines, which are too complicated for me to understand[2]. All I know is that parallel timelines are explored in Back to the Future, specifically Back to the Future Part II.

My point here is that Minutemen took a lot of influence from Back to the Future, and in doing so, it took some of Back to the Future’s scientific inaccuracies and made them their own. However, that does not mean that Minutemen doesn’t have a good story, because it does, and it was good for Disney Channel to create a science fiction-based movie. Science fiction isn’t a particularly common genre for Disney, with their Zenon trilogy ending in 2004. Minutemen was their first science fiction movie since then, but Zenon takes place in space in the future, not in present day with some elements of science within it, like Minutemen. There wouldn’t be another science fiction-themed DCOM until The Suite Life Movie in 2011.

Minutemen was directed by Lev L. Spiro. After Minutemen, Spiro went on to direct the DCOM Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009) and some episodes of the Disney Channel series Jonas (2009-10). More recently, he has directed some episodes of UnReal (2015-18) and Insatiable (2018-19). The screenplay for Minutemen was written by John Killoran, with David Diamond and David Weissman being credited for the story.

The actors enjoyed working with Spiro during filming on Minutemen, and Spiro in turn enjoyed working with them. It seemed like a fun, creative atmosphere on set. One area where this was clear was in the stunts. Minutemen is not a high action thriller, however, there were still moments of stunt work, and the actors got to do quite a lot of it. Jason Dolley, Luke Benward, and Nicholas Braun ended up doing lots of jumps and dives to film the shots of them going into and coming out of the time travel vortex. They also did some work on wires for their characters spinning through the vortex. Although the vortex doesn’t look particularly realistic, it is worth remembering this is a TV movie from 2008. Benward was also able to drive the “runaway” kart in Charlie’s first scene in the movie.

There is also another actor that should be mentioned here and that is Tennessee the cat, who played Albert Felinestein. Although the cat is not seen all that much in Minutemen, Albert Felinestein was part of a key moment in the movie: the first test of the time travel machine. The cat actually had to be sprayed with something to make it look like it had been frosted up during the time travelling. But don’t worry; the cat was not thrown into the air when the boys throw it into the vortex in the film. A toy cat was used as a “stunt double”.

The coldness aspect of time travelling, which saw the DeLorean freeze during the time travel sequences of Back to the Future, did mean that the boys had to wear big, thick snowsuits. This may’ve been easy to do had this shoot been entirely inside, or shot during winter, but it was not; it was filmed in summer. Dolley, Benward, and Braun had to do a lot of activity in those costumes and did struggle at times in the hot weather[3]!

Minutemen was filmed in August 2007 in Utah, with two schools being used as filming locations: Murray High School, based in Salt Lake Valley; and Highland High School in Salt Lake City. It seems that Murray High School was used as the exterior of Summerton High School, with a giant bronze ram statue being placed outside the school entrance, with “Summerton High School” and “Rams” wording being added to the building. It supposedly confused some registering students; however, the props were removed before school started. Highland High seems to have been the setting for Summerton’s playing field[4].

Utah has been a fairly common filming location for Disney Channel, with others being filmed in Utah including Cloud 9 (2014) and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Murray High School is not even a stranger to Disney Channel, as it was used as the filming location for Read It and Weep (2006) and the High School Musical trilogy (2006-08)[5].

RECEPTION

Minutemen premiered on Disney Channel on 25^th January 2008 in the US.

It reportedly reached around 6.5 million viewers on its premiere. This is about average for a Disney Channel Original Movie release for the time, potentially slightly above average. The DCOMs with the best viewing figures tended to be the musicals, or the ones with the biggest Disney Channel stars. Although Minutemen features a lot of Disney stars as we now know them, at the time, none of the main actors had been in many Disney projects before, so Disney Channel didn’t have that to market the movie fully. Although I’m from the UK and not the US, I don’t remember Minutemen being heavily advertised on the channel, however, the other two releases of 2008, Camp Rock, and The Cheetah Girls: One World, were. It is worth noting though that in the US, Minutemen actually had slightly more viewers than the third Cheetah Girls movie, which had viewership of around 6.2. million. I also think Minutemen fared quite well for a January movie release. DCOMs released over the summer or towards Halloween I always felt were the most exciting ones.

Looking at audience reviews, I was surprised to find so many positive ones for Minutemen. That’s not to say I think it deserves more negative reviews, because it doesn’t, but just that many reviews of DCOMs tend to be overly critical. In Minutemen’s case, many felt that the storyline was fun and smart, with better-than-expected acting. I would definitely agree with this statement. Many liked the references to Back to the Future that are peppered throughout Minutemen. It was also appreciated that this is a DCOM that is centred on three teenage boys, and outcasts at that. Many other DCOMs do not do this, although Disney Channel were clearly trying to appeal to this demographic during the 2000s, as you can see with movies like Jump In! (2007) and Hatching Pete (2009).

However, Minutemen did not escape any negative reviews, as no film ever can. Some said that Minutemen was “forgettable”. To be fair, in amongst all the other DCOMs that have been released, I would say that Minutemen has been forgotten by many Disney Channel fans, unless they happened to have watched it enough times at a younger age to make it a favourite. But the reason it may have been forgotten isn’t because the movie is low-quality; it’s because the DCOM world has been saturated with musicals. Others were quick to point out the inaccuracy of the time travelling within Minutemen, and there were some comments about how the black hole and “end of the world” scenario was a little bit overdone, especially with the four-hour time limit to fix everything. Four hours is a random amount of time for something as cataclysmic as a black hole consuming the world – or was it just the US? – but I didn’t think it was excessively dramatic.

Personally, I think Minutemen is a better-than-average DCOM, with a different type of story and pretty good acting. It’s certainly not anywhere close to being one of the worst DCOMs I’ve seen.

LEGACY

Unlike Back to the Future, which spanned two sequels, merchandise, a TV series, and a fandom that are extraordinarily loyal, Minutemen didn’t get that.

Minutemen instead may even get confused with The Minutemen characters from the DC comic book series Watchmen. Minutemen are also the name of characters in other comic books, including those from Marvel. Minutemen, or Minuteman, has also been used as the name of different organisations or groups in the US over the years, including in the American Revolutionary War. This term generally refers to rapid deployment of people.

One good thing to come out of Minutemen was the careers of its stars, with the four main actors having multiple Disney credits. Jason Dolley mentioned during a 2020 video he appeared in on Christy Carlson Romano’s YouTube Channel – the voice of Kim Possible for anyone unfamiliar, as well as Ren Stevens in The Even Stevens (2000-03) – that he was one of the few actors to have been in the most DCOMs with four, joint with Brenda Song. Song has in fact been in five. Although some were quick to point out the inaccuracy in his statement, many actors who have been in more than four DCOMs were in series, such as Raven-Symoné in The Cheetah Girls and Zenon films, and Ashley Tisdale, in the High School Musical and Phineas and Ferb movies. Dolley was in four completely unrelated, standalone DCOMs, as well as two Disney Channel series, which is still impressive. If nothing else, Minutemen was a stepping stone to success for its Disney Channel stars.

Minutemen also went some way in breaking Disney Channel’s reliance on musicals after its High School Musical hype, and finding a way of appealing to boys, instead of only on pre-teen and teenage girls.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Minutemen is not my favourite DCOM, and I didn’t even see it until after its release. I’ve always liked musicals, so I was always excited for those, and I’d also choose to watch DCOMs with actors I already knew. Minutemen wouldn’t be able to meet that second requirement for a few years, but when it did, I went ahead and saw it.

It wasn’t a particularly memorable movie experience to be honest, but re-watching this week, I was impressed with it. The storyline covered the scientific background of time travel, as well as the potential homeland security issues that may come with this sort of endeavour, making Minutemen more complex a movie than others that are generally about high school. Minutemen managed to combine the time travel with this aspect.

Minutemen is a movie for the outcasts, once again proving that it’s the ones who no-one imagines anything of who do the things that no-one can imagine.

Alan Turing reportedly said that; I can’t take credit for it.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: BBC Bitesize, ‘Five times the movies got their science right’, BBC.co.uk/bitesize, October 2022.

[2] Credit: Andrew May, ‘What is the grandfather paradox?’, LiveScience.com, 31^st January 2022.

[3] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Minutemen 2008 DVD Overview’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 12^th January 2024.

[4] Credit: Jennifer Toomer-Cook, ‘Disney moment for Murray, Highland’, Deseret.com, 3^rd September 2007.

[5] Credit: Jennifer Guzman, ‘Got Disney+? Keep an eye out for these movies filmed in Utah’, KSL.com, 12^th November 2019.

15th Mar 20243rd Nov 2025 by The Disney Purist

#43 Treasure Planet (2002)

BACKGROUND

Ah, Treasure Planet. A futuristic coming-of-age story, complete with space pirates, space whales, hidden treasure, and a new cool sport: solar surfing – all the teens are doing it.

It was a project two decades in the making with two directors who had proven their worth throughout the Disney “Renaissance Era”. Plus, it combined all the magic of Disney’s traditional 2D animation style with all the amazement of technological advancements. It had all the ingredients to be the next big hit. And yet, Treasure Planet became one of Disney’s worst ever financial flops…So, what went wrong?

Well, in my mind, Treasure Planet is actually a very enjoyable film, with lots of heart and plenty of great art. I think it was a victim of bad timing and changing audience tastes.

After a whole decade of amazing movies that shaped an entire generation of children, with many of those still enjoying watching them as adults, Disney began to struggle in the 2000s. They were competing with the likes of Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, who released their first Ice Age movie in 2002, and DreamWorks, who were making full-length computer-animated films that weren’t just funny, but hilarious for children and adults alike. Disney, on the other hand, weren’t entirely sure what they were doing, and in changing their tried-and-tested formula of the musical fairy tale, they took some big risks that mostly didn’t work out.

However, in 2002, there was Lilo & Stitch, released in June, just five months before Treasure Planet. It was an original story and a non-musical, and it did exceptionally well, so that must’ve given the team working on Treasure Planet hope that their film would do well also. Yet it did not and Treasure Planet was left to struggle at the box-office. It was then forgotten for many years afterwards.

I remember when I first watched Treasure Planet. Not in the cinema, but once it had been released on DVD. Though we had watched a lot of the “Renaissance Era” films at the cinema, this must have been around the time where we weren’t that determined to watch Disney films as soon as they came out – because they were not as good as they used to be. I didn’t like Treasure Planet when I first watched it. My sister did, but I thought it was boring – and where were the princesses, and the songs? So, I never wanted to watch it again. It’s a science-fiction film, an action film, and a fantasy film all at once, and none of those genres used to appeal to me. It wasn’t until years later that I decided to re-watch and see what I thought of it. And you know what? I actually really liked it – I’ll happily admit that I was wrong and when I was younger, I’d completely missed the whole emotional grip of the film. If you re-watch Treasure Planet as an adult, you’ll also see that the film is full of brilliant quotes, and hilarious one-liners.

PLOT

For anyone not familiar with the plot of this or Treasure Island, as it sticks fairly closely to the original story, just with the obvious change of it being set in space, the film starts off with a young Jim Hawkins listening to his holographic, pop-up, audio storybook that tells the story of Captain Nathaniel Flint, a notorious space pirate who has been storing all of his treasure in a mysterious place called “Treasure Planet” that nobody else has found. The film then jumps to Jim as a wayward teenager, getting in trouble with the police, generally not having a plan in life, and spending a lot of time “solar surfing”, which is like a mix of hoverboarding and skateboarding. His mother runs an inn called the Benbow Inn, and is at her wit’s end trying to figure out what to do about Jim. Later, a pirate called Billy Bones crash-lands outside the inn and gives Jim a small golden sphere to keep hold of just as he dies. The inn is then broken into by a cyborg and his crew who Bones had warned was following him. Jim, his mother, and their family friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler, manage to escape; however, the inn is set on fire and completely destroyed.

At Dr. Doppler’s home, Jim discovers that this sphere is actually a map to Treasure Planet. Jim and Dr. Doppler decide to set off on a voyage to find this planet, with Dr. Doppler financing the trip. They board the RLS Legacy with feline Captain Amelia, her first mate Mr. Arrow, and a crew of ruffians. Jim is put to work on the ship, which I think is really unfair, because he was given the map and figured out what it was after all, why should he have to work when this is all happening because of him? Anyway, Jim is ordered to work under the supervision of John Silver, the cyborg cook, who Jim is suspicious of right from the start as Billy Bones had told him in his dying breath: “beware the cyborg”. Jim does, however, like Silver’s shape-shifting pink glob pet, Morph.

The RLS Legacy sets sail, though Captain Amelia remains concerned about some of the crew on board, not liking this crew that Dr. Doppler hired. The voyage is not without struggles, like the ship almost being sucked into a supernova and black hole which threatens to consume all of them. Jim and Silver have become close during their time working together after their initial dislike for one another, but in the chaos of the black hole, Jim is blamed for the death of Mr. Arrow. Jim is devastated, believing he checked all of the crew’s ropes that kept them attached to the ship, their “lifelines”. Little does Jim know that indeed some of this crew is dodgy, because the spider-like Scroop deliberately cut Mr. Arrow’s lifeline rope and sent him spiralling into deep space.

The dodgy crew becomes more dodgy shortly after the RLS Legacy begins to approach Treasure Planet. It soon becomes clear that Silver is actually running this crew and he is after the treasure. Him and the crew commandeer the ship, leaving Amelia, Doppler and Jim to escape quickly, grabbing the spherical map to ensure Silver can’t get it, and they crash onto a strange planet. Amelia is injured in the escape. Jim meets a crazy robot called B.E.N. who helps him figure out that this planet is actually Treasure Planet. Jim then works out that the map is actually Morph, who shape-shifted into the map during the chaotic escape. Jim realises that the real map is still on the ship. Jim, Morph and B.E.N. watch as Silver and his crew land on Treasure Planet and they steal a small boat to get back onto the RLS Legacy to look for the map. Jim is attacked by Scroop as he does so, but through some quick-thinking and some mis-steps by B.E.N. that cause him to disable the artificial gravity, Jim manages to push Scroop out into deep space.

On returning to Amelia and Dr. Doppler, Jim, B.E.N. and Morph see that the two have been captured by Silver and his crew, and Jim is forced to give up the map. They discover that the map is actually full of portals, with one of the portals allowing them to get to the centre of Treasure Planet. In the centre, they find the whole area covered in treasure and Silver’s crew begin to collect it up. For some reason, B.E.N. is reminded of something but as he does not have his memory, he can’t recall what is troubling him. Jim discovers the skeleton of Captain Flint, the hoarder of the treasure, holding B.E.N.’s memory circuit. Jim reinstalls it, which allows B.E.N. to remember everything. He tells the others that Captain Flint rigged the planet to explode if ever his treasure was discovered, and that his memory was pulled out of him so that this secret would never be revealed.

Everyone quickly tries to escape the centre of the planet as it begins to explode. Silver abandons his treasure to help Jim, who almost falls to his death, and they get everyone back on board the RLS Legacy again to leave the planet. However, the ship has been damaged and will not be able to outrun the explosion. Jim figures out that they can use the map’s portals to simply exit to a different location. He quickly builds a mini solar surfing board and makes his way to the map to change portal destinations as Dr. Doppler steers the RLS Legacy towards it. They succeed, returning to Montressor, as the whole planet explodes behind them. Later on, Jim sees Silver trying to leave without being seen. Despite Silver holding him hostage on Treasure Planet and tricking him into believing he was one of the good guys, Jim allows him to go, although it is clear that he will miss his newfound friend. Silver offers for Jim to go along with him, but Jim doesn’t want to, realising that Silver taught him to “chart his own course”. Silver heads away, but leaves Jim with Morph and half of the treasure he managed to steal, so that Jim’s mother can rebuild the Benbow Inn – that Silver just so happened to destroy… Silver also tells Jim that he is something special.

Back home in Montressor, the Benbow Inn has been rebuilt and B.E.N. is now a waiter; Dr. Doppler and Amelia have four children; and Jim has become a cadet at the Interstellar Academy. As the party at the Benbow goes on, Jim looks up to the sky and sees an image of Silver in the clouds, showing that Silver will always be watching over him.

CHARACTERS & CAST

In my opinion, all the characters in Treasure Planet are well-developed and all of them serve a purpose to the overall story. Jim is a typical teenager at the start of the film, albeit not one you really want to root for. He’s a trouble-maker, who gives his mother constant reason for worry, even though it’s clear Jim doesn’t mean to be a problem; he just doesn’t know what he wants to be or how to be himself. He represents a lot of teenagers, not knowing what to do or how to feel, struggling to deal with past trauma, and generally feeling quite confused and lost. Jim Hawkins was made to be slightly older in Treasure Planet than he seems to be in the book Treasure Island, and that was to widen the appeal of the movie to teenagers, as Disney is predominantly known for making “kids’ movies”, something that instantly uninterests most teens. Jim goes on an emotional “coming-of-age” journey throughout the film, with his relationship with Silver having much to do with that. Despite initial friction between the two, Silver ends up being a mentor and father-figure to Jim, something that he very much needs after his own father ran out on him and his mother.

Silver and Jim have some very touching moments during Treasure Planet, such as when they say goodbye at the end of the film and when Jim is blamed for Mr. Arrow’s death; he feels hopeless again after having gained some confidence, until Silver comes over and tells him that the incident wasn’t his fault, and “you’ve got the makings of greatness in you”. It’s a sweet and heart-warming scene – especially when you realise that Silver is actually the bad guy here! John Silver is a great “villain” in Treasure Planet, because he has hidden depths to his character. He’s torn between carrying out his mission, and obsession of finally getting his hands on the treasure, but he also ends up caring about Jim and doesn’t want him to get hurt, or get caught up in the middle of his scheme. Silver is also very funny at times, with his crazy cyborg mechanics and some great lines of dialogue.

Jim Hawkins is voiced Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt began his career as a child actor, starring in movies such as A River Runs Through It (1992) and Angels in the Outfield (1994), and in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) as Tommy. He later appeared in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), before working on Treasure Planet. In more recent years, he has starred in movies such as 500 Days of Summer (2009), Lincoln (2012), Snowden (2016), in the title role, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020).

John Silver is voiced by Brian Murray, a South African actor, who had roles on stage, screen, and in radio throughout his career. He received three Tony Award nominations for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performances in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1968, The Little Foxes in 1997, and The Crucible in 2002. Murray directed stage productions as well, such as Blithe Spirit in 1987. On screen, Murray appeared in The League of Gentleman (1960). Murray was also nominated for an Annie Award for his voice acting as Silver in Treasure Planet in 2002. He passed away in August 2018.

Let’s not forget Silver’s little sidekick, the lovable Morph. Morph is the shape-shifting blob who doesn’t talk but fills the screen with such cheeky personality it’s impossible not to like him and laugh at the silly things he does to annoy or entertain Jim and Silver. Morph is so adorable and even though he doesn’t say anything, he really lights up the screen. Morph is meant to be like Silver’s pet parrot in the original Treasure Island novel. Morph ended up being a completely hand-drawn character, by animator Mike Show, as it was too difficult to transform Morph into all the objects and people he turns into using CGI. The character’s design was inspired by how water moves in zero-gravity. Morph is voiced Sound Editor Dane Davis, who won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing in 2000 for The Matrix (1999).

Then, there is the odd couple of Captain Amelia and Dr. Doppler, who have a funny dynamic, but they are very likeable as a couple and as characters here. They start off hating each other, and end up falling in love. They both have some of the best lines, like Amelia saying “Cup of tea, and I’ll be right as rain” after she gets shot, which is so typically British, and “You can’t help people with a doctorate, you just sit there, and you’re useless.” Dr. Doppler is a bit square and awkward, a dog-like astronomer, so kind of nerdy as well, whereas Captain Amelia is the stoic and straight-talking feline captain of the RLS Legacy. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly – and one of those fools just happens to be Dr. Doppler at the start – and she is not afraid to use her authority to get things done right. If there had to be a love story within Treasure Planet, I’m glad it was between these two completely different personalities. It just shows that opposites do attract! Supposedly, there was actually a line cut from the final edit of the film that would’ve stated that Doppler had actually given birth to their four children; it was decided this was probably too much information for the kids!

Captain Amelia is voiced by Dame Emma Thompson, who made Amelia such a great character by voicing her lines with so much dry humour and sarcasm. Again, very British. She was very enthusiastic about voicing the character. Thompson was made a Dame in 2018 by Queen Elizabeth II, many years after her very successful career in acting began. Thompson has had numerous roles on stage and screen, both serious, dramatic and comedic roles. She was actually a member of the Cambridge Footlights, a comedy troupe, whilst at Cambridge University so began her on-screen career as a comedian. She was part of the comedy group at the same time as other well-known actors and comedians, such as Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Following on from this, she starred in numerous adaptations of Shakespeare plays, and period dramas, such as Howards End (1992), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and The Remains of the Day (1993). Just a couple of years later, she wrote the screenplay for and starred as Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. From then on, Dame Emma Thompson has continued to light up our screens, with roles like Professor Trelawny in the Harry Potter film series; Nanny McPhee in Nanny McPhee (2005) and its 2010 sequel; and as one of the ensemble cast in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually (2003). For Disney and Pixar, Thompson voiced the character of Queen Elinor in Brave (2012), gave a heart-wrenching performance as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), and became the snobby, and “cruel”, Baroness von Hellman for Cruella (2021).

David Hyde Pierce voiced Dr. Doppler. He continues to be most well-known for his role as Dr. Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier (1993-2004), for which he won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, along with two Screen Actors Guild Awards, one for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, and one as part of the Ensemble Cast award. In a way, Dr. Doppler is a bit like Niles! David Hyde Pierce was asked to voice Dr. Doppler whilst he was working on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998), in which he voiced the stick insect, Slim. He loved the character of Doppler and was very happy to voice him. He has continued to work on screen and stage, in productions such as Spamalot from 2004 to 2006, where he played Sir Robin, and as Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway from 2017 to 2018. Most recently, he appeared in the series Julia (2022-23) as Julia Child’s husband, Paul, and on stage is set to play the role of Major General in The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in 2025.

The final main character to mention is B.E.N., the nervy, crazy robot. His name stands for Bio Electronic Navigator, but it’s just easier to call him B.E.N. He’s absolutely hilarious because he has no idea how to talk to anyone, having been isolated on Treasure Planet for so long, so he has no concept of how to behave in a social setting, and ends up talking super-loudly, even when Jim tries to shut him up, and is desperate for Jim to like him and be his friend. B.E.N. is an entirely CGI character.

B.E.N. is voiced by comedic actor Martin Short, who got his big break appearing alongside Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in the comedy film ¡Three Amigos! (1986), after starring in sketch comedy shows such as SCTV (Second City Television) from 1982 to 1983, and then in Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985. In the 1990s, he teamed up with Steve Martin again to be a complete scene-sealer as Franck Eggelhoffer in Father of the Bride (1991) and its 1995 sequel, and its 2020 short film. Short has also portrayed roles in numerous Disney projects, like for theme park attractions such as CinéMagique for Disneyland Paris, which ran from 2002 to 2017; The Making of Me for the Wonders of Life pavilion in Epcot – the less said about that, the better – which lasted from 1989 to 2007; and O Canada!, running from 2007 to 2019 for the Canada pavilion in Epcot; and in Disney’s films, like a voice part in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure, as Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), and as Lumière in Beauty and the Beast: A 30^th Celebration (2022). Short also continues to voice characters for animated children’s films that aren’t Disney, such as Stefano in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) for DreamWorks and Father Willoughby in The Willoughbys (2020) for Netflix. Currently, Martin Short continues to perform shows with his long-time friend and comedy sparring partner Steve Martin, as well as act with him and Selena Gomez in the popular comedy-mystery series Only Murders in the Building (2021-present). Can you tell I’m a big fan of his?

There are a few other supporting characters to mention as well. One of these is Scroop, the “spider psycho” as Jim and Morph like to call him! He is a very scary character, with his deep, gravelly voice having a lot to do with that, as well as his spider-like characteristics, like huge eyes, fangs and claws. Michael Wincott voices the character, and some of his credits include Guy of Gisbourne in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); Ed Gein in Hitchcock (2012); and hacker Adrian Cross on the TV miniseries 24: Live Another Day (2014). The secretive, dying pirate Billy Bones, who Jim Hawkins meets at the start of the movie and receives the map from, was voiced by Patrick McGoohan in his final film role. McGoohan had appeared in the British television series Danger Man (1960-68), for which he won a BAFTA award for Best Actor; Escape from Alcatraz (1979) as Warden Arthur Dollison; and as King Edward Longshanks in Braveheart (1995). Supposedly, McGoohan had a cold when it came time for him to record lines for Billy Bones. The animators weren’t concerned as Bones had to sound like he was unwell, so it worked for them[1]!

A few more actors to mention are the voices of Jim’s mother, Mr. Arrow, and the narrator of Jim’s bedtime story. Jim’s kind, but exasperated, mother is voiced by Laurie Metcalfe, known as the voice of Andy’s mother in the Toy Story franchise of films to Disney fans. The strait-laced Mr. Arrow is voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne, who had voiced Francis in Oliver & Company (1988) for Disney, and Tony Jay is the narrator of the bedtime story. He had voiced Monsieur D’Arque in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) before Treasure Planet. There are so many brilliant actors credited in Treasure Plant, I wonder whether many of them even remember doing this film, and if they do, whether they are proud of it…. I hope so. The script is so full of humour that it’s easy to stay interested and involved in the story, and I think the actors have a lot to do with that.

MUSIC

Moving on to the music. Treasure Planet, like most of the other Disney animated movies released in the 2000s, is not a musical, unlike the movies of the Disney “Renaissance”. Although it does include some songs, they are not sung by any of the characters. There are only two songs in the movie, both written by John Rzeznik, founder and frontman of the rock band The Goo Goo Dolls, who had hits with songs like “Iris”, “Slide”, and “Better Days”.

Rzeznik wrote the song “I’m Still Here”, which is also known as “Jim’s Theme”. It plays during the sequence where Silver is teaching Jim how to be a real space sailor and learn some responsibility, but we also see some backstory of Jim’s father leaving him and his mother without even saying goodbye to Jim. This shows the hurt that Jim has kept inside him for all those years and why he acts out, getting himself in trouble. This is Jim saying how lost he feels and wondering why no-one seems to see anything of worth in him. This is my favourite of the two songs, so there wasn’t much to choose from, but it is a very underrated song from a Disney animated movie, because there is so much emotion running through it. The lyrics actually mean something outside of the film. It’s a beautiful song and scene.

The other song written for the film which plays during the End Credits is “Always Know Where You Are”. It’s quite an upbeat song that ends the film nicely, as it shows that Jim is happy to be back home, and feeling more settled with an actual career path ahead of him. It is performed by the British band BBMak, who released the popular singles “Back Here” and “Still On Your Side”. It’s a perfect “walking-out-of-the-cinema-after-seeing-a-really-great-movie” sort of song, if that makes sense. Sadly, it doesn’t sound like too many people experienced Treasure Planet at the theatres, so it was perhaps a bit of a waste…

The score for Treasure Planet was composed by James Newton Howard, in his third for Disney Feature Animation. He had previously composed the scores for Dinosaur (2000) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). James Newton Howard has composed scores for various film including The Hunger Games series of films, and the Fantastic Beasts trilogy, as well as Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Jungle Cruise (2021) for Disney.

Treasure Planet’s score combines the futuristic elements of the story with traditional instrumentals. I particularly like the piece “Silver Leaves”, which plays during that moving moment when Silver and Jim are saying goodbye, possibly forever. I also like “Silver Comforts Jim”, after Jim believes that he was to blame for Mr. Arrow’s death during the chaos of the black hole. Any piece of music playing during a scene with Silver and Jim is amazing. In terms of the more action-filled scenes, James Newton Howard’s score compliments those moments too, with that feeling of adventure and bravery. These moments sound quite similar to the instrumental pieces in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), I think, albeit Treasure Planet does sound more “piratey”, with a frequent use of pipes.

PRODUCTION

Looking at the animation for Treasure Planet, it is clear that the backgrounds are absolutely stunning. Disney wanted a “storybook” feeling to the artistic style of Treasure Planet. They ended up replicating an illustration style called the Brandywine School which had been taught by Howard Pyle to artists such as N.C. Wyeth’s, who created the original illustrations for the 1911 edition of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The style followed ideas like choosing warm colour palettes, making the scenes appear to be bathed in light, and not making everything so crisp in detail. They wanted to put that same type of illustration into this new modern, space adaptation. The space backgrounds feel really magical, and I think overall the film looks impressive.

The Disney team could also take advantage of technological improvements when designing Treasure Planet. Firstly, they were able to hand draw characters and place them onto 3D backgrounds, and they could make fully computer-generated characters, such as B.E.N. They created hybrid characters too, and one of these is John Silver. John Silver is a hand-drawn character by animator Glen Keane, with a computer-generated arm, leg, and headpiece animated by Eric Daniels. To see how the two different animation styles would work together, the team used Captain Hook for inspiration. They relayed a digital arm onto previous footage from Peter Pan (1953) so they could see just how it would look on screen.

They also took advantage of previous technological advancements at the Disney Studios by using their Deep Canvas technology. It had been used in Tarzan (1999) and won a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2003. This technology allowed for CGI backgrounds to be produced that looked like traditional paintings. It was used to create about 75% of the environments in Treasure Planet. The Disney team also used Virtual Sets, which allowed for 3D, 360-degree sets to be created so that sequences could be staged and shot from different angles. One of these was the RLS Legacy ship, named RLS after Robert Louis Stevenson[2]. The Disney studios made the entire film using the “70/30 law”, which meant ensuring that not only the art styling and the characters, but also the sound and music, were 70% traditional and 30% science-fiction, though it could be argued the film is more science fantasy, as it is based in an alternative version of the future. The movie is not set in space as we would know it; in fact, it takes place in “the etherium”, an atmosphere that is more like a space ocean with breathable air and life. This meant that characters wouldn’t need oxygen tanks or spacesuits, and could freely move around space[3].

So, that’s all the good stuff about Treasure Planet. Now, let’s see what went wrong. Well, to begin with, it’s actually a very nice story. Ron Clements and John Musker first met during production on The Fox and the Hound (1981). The two then teamed up as story artists on The Black Cauldron (1985) during early stages of development, but were later removed from the project along with many others. Clements then pitched the idea of an animated picture based on the stories of Sherlock Holmes; this became The Great Mouse Detective, which both Clements and Musker directed, and was the next feature film to be released after The Black Cauldron. The Great Mouse Detective was a successful film.

This all took place during the difficulties that Disney Animation faced in the mid-1980s, when new executives were brought in from outside studios to manage the Walt Disney Company. Michael Eisner, the new CEO, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the new Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, brought in a new way of pitching ideas, something they called “the gong show”, where anyone could pitch ideas for new projects that Eisner and Katzenberg would either approve, or “gong”, i.e., reject. Musker had an idea for an edgy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and Clements put forward both The Little Mermaid and Treasure Island in Space during the “gong show” in 1985. Katzenberg hated both of Clements’ proposals, but specifically disliked Treasure Island in Space because he said Disney didn’t want to make a science-fiction or pirate film, and that a story following a teenage boy without a love interest would not be a good sell to potential audiences.

Katzenberg did eventually approve The Little Mermaid (1989), which was directed by Clements and Musker and was a massive hit, signalling the start of Disney’s “Renaissance Era”, a time when Disney Animation was booming. However, Clements did not want to let his idea of Treasure Island in Space be forgotten, so, along with Musker, they re-worked the proposal to become Treasure Planet. It was pitched to the executives again, and was rejected – again. Instead, the two directed Aladdin (1992), which was also hugely popular and a box-office smash. But the pair just couldn’t let go of Treasure Planet.

In 1993, the two pitched the idea again and it was, once again, rejected, but this time, Roy E. Disney said that he did actually like the idea, and brought it up with Michael Eisner. Eisner was more receptive to the idea, but Katzenberg was not, and was annoyed at Roy E. Disney seemingly going behind his back about it. In the end, Katzenberg made a deal with Clements and Musker, based on the fact that the two had directed some major movies for Disney Animation. The two had to make one more Disney animated movie and then they could work on Treasure Planet. They set to work on Hercules (1997). Katzenberg left Disney in October 1994, so to ensure Clements and Musker were still allowed to make Treasure Planet, the two signed a seven-year-contract with the specific stipulation that after directing Hercules, they were free to work on Treasure Planet or another project of their choice. So once Hercules was done and released, Clements and Musker got to work – finally – on their “passion project”. They didn’t mind the long wait to this point particularly, though, as it meant that technology had advanced significantly in that time.

The reason that setting Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island in space was so important to Clements and Musker was because they wanted it to be new, fresh, and exciting to a younger generation. It was first written as a serial story within the children’s magazine Young Folks in 1881 and 1882. It was first published as a book in November 1883. It has since been adapted in many media formats, including as a 1934 film, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper as Silver and Jim respectively, and Disney’s own live-action film in 1950, which starred Bobby Driscoll, who went on to voice the title role in Peter Pan (1953), as Jim Hawkins. It has also been adapted as a television series, with one being released in 2012 on Sky, with Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver. Let’s also not forget Muppet Treasure Island, released in 1996, where the Muppets were joined by real-life actors like Tim Curry and Billy Connolly, who played Silver and Billy Bones.

Apart from the change of setting and making the story more futuristic, the basic plot of Treasure Planet is similar to the original novel. The story was written by Clements and Musker, and Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, who had all written Aladdin (1992) together. Rossio and Elliott had also co-written Shrek (2001) for DreamWorks, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production. Rossio and Elliott also wrote the screenplays for some of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The screenplay was written by Clements and Musker, as well as Rob Edwards. The trio later worked on The Princess and the Frog (2009) together[4].

RECEPTION

After four and a half years of production, a reported $140 million budget, many delays, and a huge push in new animation developments, it was time for Treasure Planet to be released, in November 2002. It premiered in Paris on 6^th November, before having its US premiere on 17^th November; it was widely released on 27^th November, at both IMAX theatres and regular cinemas simultaneously. But unfortunately, even with all that money, plus a supposed $40 million marketing budget, and merchandise tie-ins with Hasbro and McDonald’s Happy Meals, Treasure Planet did not do as well as was expected. That might actually be a huge understatement.

It was deemed funny “enough” with some good supporting characters, but many did not like this futuristic take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story. Some also considered it to be “gimmicky”, whilst others did praise the animation, so reviews were mixed, but not terrible. The problem was how little money Treasure Planet brought in, despite being released at the optimal time of the holiday season. It grossed only $16.6 million in its first five-days, becoming one of the biggest financial flops in Disney Animation. It would seem that two decades later, with the release of Strange World (2022), that Strange World might now be considered the worst flop, but back in 2002, Treasure Planet was considered to be Disney’s biggest financial failure, so yes, even worse than The Black Cauldron (1985).

To be fair to Treasure Planet, it was released at the same time as movies like The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). My family did actually see Harry Potter at the cinema when it came out, but not Treasure Planet; we waited for the DVD…Great, now I have guilt…Die Another Day (2002), the new James Bond film, had also been released just a few days before, so it was likely to struggle with that competition. Disney executives reiterated that Treasure Planet was received well by test audiences, but this was not what the Walt Disney Company needed, especially as the tragic events of 9/11 had meant less footfall at their theme parks. The surprisingly positive response to Lilo & Stitch (2002) in June of that year may have given them some false hope about how Treasure Planet would be received.

Some like to say that the fact Clements and Musker’s dream project had been rejected so many times meant that it was doomed to fail from the start. Some Disney executives blame their marketing for not focusing enough on the fun elements of the story. However, some executives claimed to have foreseen issues months before its release but alas, it was too late to change anything as their release date was locked in with promotional tie-ins[5]. Another reason for its failure was that CGI had started to become immensely popular as an animation technique, as it was quicker and cheaper, and could achieve much more than hand-drawn animation. There were other studios using CGI brilliantly, like Pixar and DreamWorks, so it was hard for Disney to compete. Some would say that Disney did not understand the new and changing tastes of their audience, as Disney knew they had to move away from their “Broadway-style” as more animated features flooded the market, but were unsure where to go, and where to focus their attentions.

Surprisingly to everyone, Treasure Planet was deemed “good enough” to be nominated in the second ever Best Animated Feature Film category at the 2002 Academy Awards, along with Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, however, both lost to Spirited Away (2002). To be fair, these movies are completely different, and Spirited Away in particular has a unique style all of its own, that it’s not easy to compare them, and perhaps they shouldn’t be.

LEGACY

So, what happened next? Well, a follow-up film was actually being written before Treasure Planet was even released, so there could have been a time when a Treasure Planet 2 would have existed. It is said that Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, and Martin Short were already attached to the film to reprise their roles, and that the story would have followed on from the first movie, and looked at Jim’s time at the Intergalactic Academy and his work role after that. A new villain, called Ironbeard, was also dreamed up with Willem Defoe allegedly lined up to voice the character. There were also rumours of a spin-off television series around this time[6].

There were plans for Treasure Planet to be used as new story material for the Submarine Voyage ride in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. There had been similar plans for this to be done with Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), a previous Disney movie release, but despite mock-ups and some light promotional work, this idea was abandoned due to Atlantis’ poor reception. Disney hoped the same would not happen with Treasure Planet, but it sadly did. Submarine Voyage would finally be rethemed in 2007, to Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003)[7].

Because of Treasure Planet’s disappointing box-office results, Disney announced that Home on the Range (2004) would be their final traditionally 2D animated film, moving into computer animation from that point onwards. Ron Clements and John Musker left Disney in September 2005, but after the acquisition of Pixar and the naming of John Lasseter as the new Chief Creative Officer at the company, Clements and Musker were invited back to Disney to direct The Princess and the Frog (2009), a movie that went back to Disney’s roots of 2D animation. Musker and Clements then directed Moana (2016), this being their first fully computer-animated film[8].

At the Disney Parks, Jim Hawkins was seen as a walkaround character at Walt Disney World Resort’s Tomorrowland in 2020 and at the Disneyland Paris FanDaze event in 2019. He was also seen as part of Disneyland Paris’ 25^th anniversary parade along with B.E.N., and even Kida and Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. These are the most recent sightings of Treasure Planet characters that I could find. It is likely that Jim and B.E.N. did appear as meet-and-greet characters at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, at least around the time of the movie’s release in 2002. Generally, there is very little reference to Treasure Planet at any of the Disney Parks, however, for the Disney100 celebrations, there was a small amount of dialogue and footage from Treasure Planet that featured in Disneyland’s Wondrous Journeys fireworks show in 2023; it closed in August 2023. A brief glimpse of a scene from Treasure Planet can currently be found towards the end of the Wonderful World of Animation show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. Other than a few pieces of merchandise, such as ornaments and pins that were released by Disney in 2022 for the movie’s 20^th anniversary, Treasure Planet is not normally recognised by the Walt Disney Company. A live-action remake has not even been officially announced – huh? Disney, are you ok? – though it is clear that fans of the movie want it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The fact is Treasure Planet was a risk, a risk that did not pay off at the box-office, and was not received well at the time. However, it has since gained a reputation as a “cult classic”, especially popular with fans of science fantasy and those who were children around the time of its release. I think for my family there were too many choices at the time to make Treasure Planet seem like a worthy cinema choice, but times have changed. People change. I know I gave Treasure Planet another chance, and found I loved it, and there were so many things to like about it, and so much to praise here.

Treasure Planet has enough heart, humour, adventure, and artistic styling to prove popular for many years to come, and if anyone has not watched it since it came out, then please, give it another chance.

You might find it’s your new favourite.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Treasure Planet (2002)’, pp. 127-129.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[5] Credit: Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller, ‘Disney’s ‘Treasure Planet’ an Adventure in Losing Money’, Los Angeles Times (online), 6^th December 2002.

[6] Credit: Zach Gass, ’10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Canceled Treasure Planet 2’, ScreenRant.com, 29^th February 2020.

[7] Credit: Kayleigh Donaldson, ‘The History Of Treasure Planet, Disney Animation’s Biggest Ever Flop’, SlashFilm.com, 27^th November 2022.

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

3rd Nov 20239th Jan 2026 by The Disney Purist

#47 Meet the Robinsons (2007)

BACKGROUND

I remember when I first watched Meet the Robinsons.

It was only when DisneyLife – the little-known streaming app that was the precursor to the streaming giant that is Disney+ – was released in the UK around 2015, allowing me the chance to catch up on those animated movies that I’d missed out on; Meet the Robinsons was one of those. And I must say: it surprised me. A lot.

I hadn’t even been paying much attention to it at the time. It was just playing on a tablet while I did something else, but soon, it caught my attention, and by the end of it, I found I’d actually quite liked it.

I hadn’t expected much because Meet the Robinsons was released in 2007, during that timeframe when Disney was being outdone by the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks, with a new Disney animated movie not receiving much attention, or, if it did, receiving it for all the wrong reasons. Disney was not being compared favourably to the other animation studios, so why did I think Meet the Robinsons would be any different? It was just something I wanted to get through, to say I’d watched it. I was wrong to think that.

Not everything Disney touches turns to gold, and Meet the Robinsons is still evidence of that, but it was at least a step in the right direction, after the dismal reviews of Home on the Range (2004), which I partly agree with, and Chicken Little (2005), which I wholeheartedly do not.

I know that Meet the Robinsons does not have much of a following. I personally don’t know many who have watched it, but it has managed to gain a cult following over the sixteen years since its release, and I am only too pleased by that. Now, granted, it’s not my favourite film, nor is it one that I revisit often. It doesn’t look brilliant, at least not very “Disney-like”, due to this only being their second attempt at a fully CG animated movie, after Chicken Little, and, on top of that, parts of the film feel a bit slow and drawn-out. However, I like some of the plot points, along with a couple of the characters, but the emotional ending with its touching message is really what sticks with you.

PLOT

The movie is quite heavily influenced by science-fiction, specifically time-travel and changeable timelines, kind of like the Back to the Future franchise, but less complicated. Though having said that, there are multiple time jumps in Meet the Robinsons, so bear with me while I try to recount the plot.

Meet the Robinsons begins on a dark, rainy night, outside an orphanage, where a woman leaves her baby on the doorstep to be taken in. We skip forward twelve years to see that the baby has become an imaginative kid inventor called Lewis, who wants nothing more than to be adopted. Unfortunately, his latest “adoption interview” goes awry when his newest invention malfunctions, spraying his prospective parents with peanut butter and jelly – only for the man to be allergic to peanuts…Needless to say, Lewis is devastated and runs up to the orphanage roof to be alone. Mildred, Head of the Sixth Street Orphanage, tells Lewis he’ll be adopted soon, despite having had 124 of these interviews so far, with none of them coming to anything. Mildred tries to lift his spirits, but Lewis is intent on finding his birth mother, the only person, he believes, who has and will ever love him. So, he sets out to make a “memory scanner” to retrieve the only memory he has of his mother so he can find her. Lewis makes the scanner and takes it to his school Science Fair, where he is taken aside by a dark-haired boy called Wilbur, who claims to be from the future, and is looking for a perpetrator– a strange, lanky man with a bowler hat – who has stolen his time machine. Lewis dismisses the idea; however, this man does exist and his bowler hat, which moves on its own, tampers with Lewis’ scanner, causing the Science Fair to descend into chaos.

Wilbur follows Lewis and tries to convince him to help him find “Bowler Hat Guy” and retrieve his stolen time machine. Lewis dismisses him again, so Wilbur takes him in the spare time machine to the future, the year 2037, to prove he isn’t lying. Meanwhile, Bowler Hat Guy and DOR-15, the hat, (pronounced “Doris”) have stolen the memory scanner, to pass it off as their own to InventCo, a big corporation, however, as he knows nothing about it, he is thrown out and the scanner is broken. Bowler Hat Guy and Doris go back to the year 2037 to find Lewis, and get him to fix the scanner. There, Lewis has been trying to fix the spare time machine, on the proviso Wilbur takes Lewis back to see his mother, but while doing so, Lewis accidentally meets the other members of Wilbur’s family, the crazy, zany Robinsons. After Wilbur says that he was never going to take Lewis back in time to see his mother, Lewis walks off angrily, to be picked up by Bowler Hat Guy and Doris in the other time machine; they get Lewis to fix the scanner, promising to take Lewis back to see his mother, but he is captured and told the true story of Bowler Hat Guy – that he is actually Lewis’ former roommate at the orphanage, Michael Yagoobian, known as “Goob” – shock twist! After being kept up for days on end while Lewis made his scanner, Goob fell asleep during an important baseball game, missing a vital catch, and subsequently being beaten up by the team, and, holding on to that blame, became consumed by his hatred of Lewis for ruining his life and decided to join forces with Doris, one of Lewis’ abandoned inventions, to ruin his life instead. Bowler Hat Guy and Doris go back and sell the scanner to InventCo, along with an idea for “helping hats”

Lewis realises this will ruin his future timeline, so fixes the time machine, and, now in this new parallel universe, sees Doris has enslaved every human with these “helping hats”. He vows never to invent her, destroying her, and causing the original future timeline to go back to how it was. Bowler Hat Guy, now without his hatred of Lewis, no partner-in-crime, and with no future plan, goes away to figure out what to do next, while Lewis realises that he is in fact the elusive “Cornelius”, father of Wilbur, patriarch of the Robinson family – or he will be anyway! Cornelius and Lewis meet, where he states that the memory scanner started his career as an inventor. Now Lewis must return to his time to see out this future, but before doing that, Wilbur does take Lewis to see his mother. Just as he’s about to say something to her, Lewis realises he doesn’t need to, as he has a family waiting for him, and that he needs to move on from the past. Lewis returns to his time, wakes Goob up during his baseball game so he can make the winning catch and have a happier future, and then Lewis gets to show the now-working memory scanner again at the Science Fair, where he finds that one of the judges, scientist Lucille Krunklehorn, and her husband, Bud, will adopt him, moving him to the famous Robinson house that he saw in the year 2037, cementing his future with them. The movie ends with a quote from Walt Disney, saying not to dwell on failure and to “keep moving forward”, this being the ultimate message and theme of Meet the Robinsons.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Meet the Robinsons involves a few main characters, but has a large supporting cast – something that had troubled some of Disney’s previous animated features, due to the lack of central focus, giving them a “busy, hectic” vibe. The main characters are strong enough to support the plot, however, the supporting cast does not make a huge influence on the story, or the viewer. But let’s focus on the primary characters of Meet the Robinsons.

The point of the duo of Lewis and Wilbur is for them to be contrasting, in look and personality. Even in the original source material, Wilbur was the extrovert, the driving force of the relationship, and Lewis was the introvert, taking more of a passenger-role in the story[1]. Lewis in the movie is blond, kind of nerdy, with glasses and a sweater vest, compared with Wilbur’s look of dark hair, styled in a sort of slicked-back Danny-from-Grease style, with his cool shades, black t-shirt and jeans. Personality-wise, Lewis is a bit shy, and unsure of himself. He seems quite apologetic, thinking he’s a failure and never going to amount to anything. This is probably because of his unfortunate luck with prospective adoptive parents. He’s also going through a difficult time in his life, feeling like he doesn’t belong. Lewis doesn’t start to feel more comfortable in himself until he meets the Robinson family, who teach him that it’s ok to fail, and that it’s great to just be yourself. No matter how “weird” or “strange” you may come across to others, it doesn’t matter what people think.

Wilbur, on the other hand, is confident, and quite sure of himself. He comes from a large, loving family, and that has clearly helped him feel secure. He doesn’t seem like much of a friend to Lewis at the start of the movie, ordering him around a lot, and lying about taking him back to his mother, but that is partly due to the fact that he needed to conceal his identity from the family, and get the timeline back on track. By the end, after Lewis realises he will actually be Wilbur’s father in the future, they seem to get along much better, and Wilbur does keep his promise to take Lewis back to see his mother by the end.

Lewis is voiced by two different voice actors: Jordan Fry and Daniel Hansen. Daniel Hansen seems to have retired from acting since the release of Meet the Robinsons. Jordan Fry is probably best known for playing the role of Mike Teavee in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Johnny Depp). Wesley Singerman provides the voice of Wilbur Robinson. Since the release of Meet the Robinsons, Singerman retired from acting and now focuses on his career in music.

The other main characters are Bowler Hat Guy and his sidekick Doris – or is that the other way round? At the start of the movie, we are led to believe that Bowler Hat Guy is the villain of the story. Only, he doesn’t act like much of a villain. Sure, he intends to ruin Lewis’ future, and he wants him to be miserable, but Bowler Hat Guy isn’t a very effective villain! For one thing, he isn’t particularly scary or sinister-looking. He has a black cape, his bowler hat, a long moustache, and he moves a bit like a snake, but as soon as he opens his mouth, he doesn’t sound at all like a villain. The other thing is that he isn’t really sure what he’s doing. He’s a bit of a dope to be honest, but a funny one at that.

That’s why Doris is so important, because she is the mastermind of all the schemes, and has to tell Bowler Hat Guy where to go, what to do, and what to say, for the most part. The couple of times he is left on his own to deal with things, they do not go to plan. When he is in InventCo, for example, trying to pass off the memory scanner as his own, Doris is not able to tell Bowler Hat Guy exactly what to say, and as a result, he breaks the invention and gets thrown out of the building. When Bowler Hat Guy is left to capture Lewis, with a mini-Doris to help, he manages to get mini-Doris to control both a frog and a T-Rex, only to find that they are both useless minions because the frog is too small to capture a teenage boy, and the T-Rex’s arms are too stubby to do it either!

The identity reveal of Bowler Hat Guy is the best part for me, and makes him a very sympathetic character in the end. To find he is actually Goob, Lewis’ roommate at the orphanage, who has set out to ruin Lewis’ life after he “ruined” his, is heart-breaking. Goob has been so consumed by hate that he has let his whole life pass him by, not being able to function properly, and ending up without a family, living in the abandoned orphanage alone. He finds Doris when he is about to exact his revenge on Lewis’ company building – by throwing toilet paper over it, very scary – and she tells him to join forces. When Doris is shown to be the evil one, enslaving all the humans, Bowler Hat Guy is clearly upset by this turn of events, and Doris casts him aside. Once Lewis has fixed the timeline, by saying he will never invent Doris, he is about to ask Goob to become one of the Robinsons, but Goob has already walked off. They find his checklist on how to exact his revenge on Lewis, which now is just a question mark, resembling his future. It’s very sad to see. I really like him as a character; I like how he is more complex as a villain, with a complicated backstory, an attempt at being evil, and a redemption at the end[2].

The director, Stephen Anderson, is actually the voice of Bowler Hat Guy, which isn’t unheard of and is quite common if you look into it. For example, Brad Bird who directed The Incredibles (2004) voices Edna in that movie, and Stitch is voiced by the director of Lilo & Stitch (2002), Chris Sanders. Sometimes the scratch voices they use during production stick, and they have to use the same person, even if they are the director! I think he does a brilliant job with it.

For the supporting cast, every member of the Robinson family from the book makes an appearance in the movie, each with their own trait or unique quality. They are free to do whatever makes them happy, whether that is Franny, Wilbur’s mother, who has made a full frog band, as frogs have a capacity to be musical, more so than humans, or Uncle Art, who is a pizza delivery man with a superhero persona. If you want the full details of the family, and their relations, you’ll have to either watch the film or Google it, because it would take forever for me to recount them all here! I wouldn’t say many of the family members are particularly memorable; I could only remember a couple of them, but it is still useful in showing that the Robinsons are a huge, quirky, but loving, family.

For the secondary roles, Disney managed to get a few big names to come in for the voice work. This includes Laurie Metcalf, who voiced Jim’s mother in Treasure Planet (2002) and Andy’s mom in the Toy Story franchise (1995-present), amongst other things. Metcalf voices Lucille Krunklehorn, Lewis’ adoptive mother. Adam West voices Uncle Art. He did quite a lot of other voice work before his death, but is perhaps best known for playing Batman in the 1960s. Nicole Sullivan, known for playing Holly Shumpert in The King of Queens (1998-2007) as well as voicing Shego in Disney’s Kim Possible (2002-07) around this time, provides the voice work for Franny. Angela Bassett, now perhaps most known for her role as Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including in the films Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), voices the part of Mildred, the head of the orphanage. American actor Ethan Sandler ended up voicing seven different characters, including Doris, and Tom Kenny, best known as the voice actor for SpongeBob SquarePants since 1999, voices Mr. Willerstein, Lewis’ teacher.

The biggest name in my view that Disney somehow managed to get is Tom Selleck as the voice of Cornelius, who only makes a brief appearance towards the end of the movie. The team had always planned to have the joke of the visual image in the movie: Lewis asks Wilbur who Cornelius looks like and he responds with Tom Selleck, so a picture appears in his space in the family tree as Lewis lists off what he’s learned about the family. Disney weren’t sure if they could get the rights to use the image, so looked into trying to sweeten the deal by having Selleck voice the part. Fortunately, when he was pitched the idea, he thought it would be funny and agreed to do it. The team had all grown-up watching Magnum P.I. (1980-88) so needless to say, they were pleased! Tom Selleck is also known for his roles as Peter Mitchell in Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its (far superior) sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods (2010-24). He was also Jesse Stone in a series of television crime drama films from 2006 to 2015.

PRODUCTION

Meet the Robinsons is loosely based on the children’s book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce, published in 1990. The plot of the book follows a boy visiting a family friend’s home, only to be introduced to the strange Robinson household and having to join the search for Grandfather Robinson’s missing false teeth. This is a very minor plot point that does appear in Meet the Robinsons, with Lewis helping Grandpa find his teeth being the way he meets the other Robinson family members. Joyce took inspiration from his childhood in Louisiana. One of his childhood friends had a large family, who all lived together in a huge house and were quite a unique household, apparently[3].

Disney being involved with Meet the Robinsons goes back as far as the book’s publishing in 1990. Bill Borden, an executive producer for Meet the Robinsons, had asked William Joyce to show the book to Disney executives, just before it was finished, to pitch it to them as a live-action film. They both thought the pitch had gone badly, so were surprised when Disney optioned it. Joyce wrote around eleven or twelve draft scripts for this live-action film, but it wasn’t being moved forward, mostly due to the cost element. It went quiet for many years, until Disney executive Leo Chu got in touch to try to bring the story to the animation department instead.

Around 2001, they were told that the concept would follow Wilbur as a time-traveller and Lewis as an orphan. Joyce and Borden weren’t overly convinced by this story-route as they felt it would feel too much like Jimmy Neutron and not like Joyce’s book at all[4]. Around late-2002, Stephen Anderson was approached with the script, as he had expressed an interest in directing for the studio someday. He had just finished work as a story supervisor on Brother Bear (2003), when he was handed this script for a movie called “A Day with Wilbur Robinson”, based on Joyce’s book. Anderson had an instant connection with Lewis as he too was adopted, and had the same sort of questions about his life: why did his mother give him up? Where was he from? Should he find his birth parents? Anderson felt he had to do this movie[5].

Work on the movie progressed from 2004, with a 2006 release date planned. However, when Pixar was bought by Disney and the leadership of Walt Disney Animation Studios was changed so that it would be led by John Lasseter, some parts of the movie had to be changed. Lasseter was shown the movie, and disliked the villain, Bowler Hat Guy. He asked for the villain to be changed, as he wasn’t scary at all, so the sidekick of Doris was brought in to become the main villain. Apparently, 60% of the film was scrapped and redone at this time, with the ending also being rewritten[6].

Disney did have some struggles with the computer animation side of production since it was only Disney Animation’s second fully CG animated movie. The team found that humans were difficult to capture because any errors or lack of flexibility in movement would be easy to spot, as we know how humans should look and how they move. Bowler Hat Guy in particular was a challenge as they wanted him to be quite sleek and snaky with his movement, but the characters could not bend as well back then. Still, Bowler Hat Guy was quite a step forward for CG in terms of this movement. The clothing also did not wrinkle as fabric should, instead it just stretched, but it would’ve been too expensive to do any cloth renders[7]. It kind of works in Meet the Robinsons because the clothing resembles rubber suits which sort of fit in a futuristic film. For the stylisation of the characters, the team were trying not to use the original illustrations for Joyce’s book, as his style had been used in the 2005 film Robots, produced by Blue Sky Studios, a competitor to Disney. I still feel like the style is kind of similar, especially in the robot butler to the Robinson family, Carl, which would explain why the entire film doesn’t look particularly “Disney”.

However, the most important thing that Disney wanted to get across during Meet the Robinsons was the message of hope and positivity, something that is very “Disney”. They wanted to make the future look hopeful, especially compared to most films that had made the future look bleak or even horrifying. They also wanted to evoke the ideas and the creations of Walt Disney’s original ideas for the Disney Parks, such as Epcot and Tomorrowland. There is even a quick reference to Tomorrowland in the film: as Wilbur takes Lewis to the future for the first time, you can briefly see a sign that says “Todayland”, with a building resembling the attraction Space Mountain in the background.

Then the team got to the phrase “Keep Moving Forward”, and it stuck as a theme. It worked with the adoption element, of not feeling the need to look back at the past, because hope comes from the future. Stephen Anderson mentioned in an interview that he had received letters from people saying how the theme of Meet the Robinsons had gotten them through some really hard times, and that’s all they could’ve hoped for[8].

MUSIC

The soundtrack of Meet the Robinsons is quite an eclectic mix. Danny Elfman, composer for such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and multiple other Tim Burton projects, was asked to compose the score for Meet the Robinsons. He successfully went from very crazy, such as the music that plays when the Robinsons are being introduced, and the strange song when Lewis is seeing the future for the first time, to the emotional scenes, like the opening scene outside the orphanage, Goob telling his story, and the ending where everyone is reunited. Elfman also wrote the song “The Future Has Arrived” which he asked The All-American Rejects to perform as the End Credits song.

There are also multiple other songs in the movie. For example, Rufus Wainwright wrote three songs: “Another Believer”, which he performs; a gently peppy song, which is used for the time-lapse of Lewis researching and experimenting with his memory scanner invention, and “Where is Your Heart At?”, performed by Jamie Cullum, a proper swing-time, band leader type of song, performed in the movie by Franny’s frog band, so yes, Jamie Cullum is a singing frog. The third song is the second End Credits song, “The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)”. Rob Thomas performed a song called “Little Wonders”, which is probably the most emotional song, talking about how the past can’t be changed and to look for the good things in life. It plays at the end of the movie when we see that Lewis and Goob have both been adopted and that Lewis’ future home has become his present home[9].

Even the Jonas Brothers got involved in the music, though the song has very little to do with the movie and is quite clearly more of a cross-promotional thing with the Disney Channel than anything else. The music video uses some clips from Meet the Robinsons. It is called “Kids of the Future”, a parody of “Kids in America”. There is even a version of “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” from the Disney attraction Carousel of Progress on the soundtrack, performed by They Might Be Giants. Though I like the majority of the soundtrack individually, I don’t think there is much cohesion with the music. It feels like there are too many big names in there, and all the styles are quite different. The best song for me is probably “Another Believer”. The score is good though, and I feel it helped me connect with the emotional scenes in particular.

RECEPTION

Meet the Robinsons was released a year later than expected, in March 2007, earning very little attention during its release. It made $169 million at the box office against a budget of $150 million, being seen as a “break-even” film[10].

Though it has since gained a reputation as a “cult classic” by some, who say the movie is underrated and not talked about enough, it was not what Disney had hoped for the movie. Those who enjoy Meet the Robinsons like the film for its science-fiction theming, its plot twists, and some clever humour. It was different to what Disney Animation had been making and seemed to signal a turning point for the studio after a few difficult years.

However, the animation style was criticised by others who did not like the look of the movie. Some said the plot was complicated and convoluted, and I can understand that with all its time-travelling and parallel universes. There were actually comments as well that the movie tried too hard with its humour, with this not being well-balanced again the more serious, emotional moments.

Having said that, Meet the Robinsons was nominated for some awards, although it was quite a tough year to be competing in the animation sector as many other popular films were also released in 2007, such as DreamWorks’ Bee Movie, Sony’s Surf’s Up, and 20^th Century Fox’s The Simpsons Movie.

At the Annie Awards, Meet the Robinsons was nominated for Music in a Feature Production, for Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainwright, and Rob Thomas, and Storyboarding for Don Hall, but ultimately lost to Michael Giacchino’s score and Ted Mathot’s storyboarding of Pixar’s Ratatouille, the film that won the Annie Award, the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature, amongst numerous other accolades; Meet the Robinsons was not even nominated in these major ceremonies. Meet the Robinsons was nominated at the Saturn Awards for Best Animated Film but also lost to Ratatouille.

LEGACY

Unfortunately, most people do not know this film, either having never seen or having never heard of it. It is not referenced in Disney merchandising and no characters are seen at the Disney theme parks. Or are they?

I thought Meet the Robinsons was completely ignored by Disney; however, I remembered that in actual fact, Bowler Hat Guy makes an appearance in Mickey’s Boo To You Halloween Parade. I saw the parade on YouTube one year, and thought: who is that guy? He’s supposedly a villain, but who is he? It wasn’t until years later, once I’d seen Meet the Robinsons for the first time, that I realised it was Bowler Hat Guy. He appears towards the end of the parade with the other villains, as one of the characters walking/dancing in front of the main villain float. I believe he has been a fixture in that parade since 2014, at least intermittently. The villains seem to be swapped out every year, but Bowler Hat Guy has been there most years I have seen footage of this Disney Halloween parade.

Lewis and Wilbur did appear as “meet-and-greet” characters when the film was first released for a while, at then-named Disney’s MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, but have not been seen for many years, with the most recent sightings being at Disneyland Paris around 2018 for the Disney FanDaze event, along with Bowler Hat Guy. But there was a MagicBand released in 2022 for the movie’s 15^th anniversary, with Lewis on one side and Bowler Hat Guy on the other. It is possible these three will appear again, probably for Special Events, but if you’re desperate to see any character from Meet the Robinsons, seeing Bowler Hat Guy during Halloween is likely to be your best bet. For merchandise, looking around a milestone anniversary is the best option.

Meet the Robinsons was not a big success, and divided critics. And yet, a direct-to-video sequel was in the works, at least initially, with a title of Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date. This was cancelled by John Lasseter after he became Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, as he did with the plans for many other direct-to-video sequels that had been customary releases by Disney in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There was a video game based on the movie, unsurprisingly. More surprisingly, some of the characters featured within the 2023 short Once Upon a Studio, the 100^th anniversary celebratory short for Disney animation, with Lucille, robot butler Carl, and Bowler Hat Guy being the easiest to spot. These lesser-known faces finally got to have their moment in the spotlight – even if it was just a few seconds.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Meet the Robinsons was a failure in some ways, and a success in others. It was Disney’s attempt to compete with the other animation studios, yet also trying to find a way to differentiate themselves. The movie gave Disney more confidence in the computer-animation medium which would help them immensely just a few years later. They tried a new concept by moving into science-fiction, which they hadn’t done before, and they got back to creating an emotional story, something the audience could connect with, rather than the comedy route they had previously gone down.

But most importantly, the film presents the audience with a significant message: “keep moving forward”. There were plenty of audience members who were touched by this and saw this movie at a time when they needed that message most. It is a shame that more people did not take something from it.

Meet the Robinsons tells us that the future is full of hope and possibilities if you can learn from your mistakes and failures instead of reliving them. It’s also a story of family, showing us that no matter how lost you feel, you can always find somewhere you belong.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[2] Credit: Scott Mendelson, ‘Walt Disney’s Most Underrated Cartoon Just Turned 15 Years Old’, Forbes (online), 31^st March 2022.

[3] Credit: Shania Russell, ‘Meet the Robinsons at 15: An Oral History of Disney’s Underrated Gem’, SlashFilm (online), 28^th December 2022.

[4] Credit: Shania Russell, ‘Meet the Robinsons at 15: An Oral History of Disney’s Underrated Gem’, SlashFilm (online), 28^th December 2022.

[5] Credit: Jeff Ames, ‘Interview: Meet the Robinsons Director Stephen J. Anderson Discusses the Classic Disney Film’, ComingSoon.Net (online), 23^rd August 2022.

[6] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘When Even Dinosaur Fights Aren’t Enough: Disney’s Meet the Robinsons’, Tor.com (online), 19^th May 2016.

[7] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[8] Credit: Jeff Ames, ‘Interview: Meet the Robinsons Director Stephen J. Anderson Discusses the Classic Disney Film’, ComingSoon.Net (online), 23^rd August 2022.

[9] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[10] Credit: Scott Mendelson, ‘Walt Disney’s Most Underrated Cartoon Just Turned 15 Years Old’, Forbes (online), 31^st March 2022.