| Muppet Treasure Island | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byDrew Struzan | |
| Directed by | Brian Henson |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Fenner |
| Edited by | Michael Jablow |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $47.2 million[2] |
Muppet Treasure Island is a 1996 Americanmusicalswashbucklercomedy film directed byBrian Henson and the fifth theatrical film featuringthe Muppets. Adapted from the 1883 novelTreasure Island byRobert Louis Stevenson, similarly to its predecessorThe Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), the key roles were played by live-action actors, with the Muppets in supporting roles. The film stars Muppet performersDave Goelz,Steve Whitmire,Jerry Nelson,Kevin Clash,Bill Barretta, andFrank Oz in various roles, as well asTim Curry asLong John Silver and introducingKevin Bishop in his film debut asJim Hawkins.
The film was released in the United States on February 16, 1996, byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution. It grossed $47 million worldwide. It also received generally positive reviews from critics. It is the second Muppets film to be produced byWalt Disney Pictures, whoseparent company would later acquire the Muppets in 2004.
Jim Hawkins is a young orphan who lives in an inn in England with his best friendsGonzo andRizzo. Jim listens toBilly Bones' tales about the pirateCaptain Bernie Flint, who buried his treasure trove on a remote island and executed his crew so only he would own the island's map. One night, Bones' crewmate Blind Pew arrives, giving Bones theblack spot. Just before dying of a heart attack, Bones gives Jim thetreasure map and begs him to go after the treasure and keep it safe from pirate hands, especially a one-legged man. Just then, an army of pirates attacks the inn, thus destroying it, but Jim, Gonzo, and Rizzo escape with the map.
The trio takes the map to the half-witSquire Trelawney (Fozzie Bear), who arranges a voyage to find the treasure. The boys are enlisted aboard theHispaniola as cabin boys, accompanied by Trelawney,Dr. Livesey (Bunsen Honeydew), andBeaker. The ship is commanded byCaptain Abraham Smollett (Kermit the Frog) and his overly strict first mate, Mr. Samuel Arrow (Sam Eagle). The boys meet the cookLong John Silver, the one-legged man whom Bones warned them of, but Jim and Silver become good friends. The ship sets sail, but Smollett is suspicious of the crew, believing them to be shady. After Gonzo and Rizzo are kidnapped and tortured by three of the crew who have turned out to be pirates, he has the treasure map locked up for safekeeping.
It is revealed that Silver and the secret pirates in the crew had been part of Flint's crew and want the treasure for themselves. Silver fools Mr. Arrow into leaving the ship to test out a rowboat, says he drowned, and has his minions steal the map during Arrow's memorial service. Jim, Gonzo, and Rizzo discover Silver's treachery and inform Smollett. Arriving at Treasure Island, Smollett orders the entire crew, save the officers, to go ashore, planning to keep himself and the non-pirate crew aboard the ship and abandon the pirates on the island. However, his plan falls through when it is discovered that Silver has kidnapped Jim to have leverage against the captain. On the island, Silver invites Jim to join them in the treasure hunt using his late father's compass. When Jim refuses, Silver forcibly takes the compass from him. Smollett, Gonzo, and Rizzo land on the island in an effort to rescue Jim. However, unbeknownst to them, Silver had hidden a squad of pirates aboard theHispaniola before leaving, and they capture the ship in Smollett's absence. On the island, Smollett and the rest of the landing party are captured by the native tribe of pigs, where Smollett reunites with his jilted loverBenjamina "Mina" Gunn (Miss Piggy), the tribe's queen.
The pirates find that the cave in which Flint hid the treasure is empty, leading to a briefmutiny against Silver. Silver reveals that, even though he is a pirate, he cares for Jim and allows him to escape. After reprimanding the crew for using a page from the Bible to deliver a death sentence, Silver and his crew capture Smollett and Mina. Smollett is hung from a cliff to fall to his death, joined soon by Mina after she reveals where the treasure is hidden to save his life, only to spit out a kiss from Silver. Jim rescues his friends and with an alive Mr. Arrow, who portrays his own ghost to scare the pirates aboard the ship, the group regains control of theHispaniola and rescues Smollett and Mina.
The group engages the remaining pirates in a sword fight on the beach with Sweetums defecting to Smollett's side until only Silver is left standing, but he surrenders when he finds himself outnumbered. While the pirates are imprisoned, Silver discovers he still has Mr. Arrow's keys and tries to escape with the treasure during the night. Jim confronts him and threatens to give his position away, while Silver draws his pistol. In a tearful standoff, neither can bring themselves to follow their threats, and Jim allows Silver to leave as long as they never cross paths again, much to their disappointment. Silver rows away, but not before returning Jim's compass to him and complimenting his kind heart. However, Mr. Arrow informs Jim and Smollett that the boat Silver used was not seaworthy, and Silver is later stranded on Treasure Island.
The crew of theHispaniola sails away into the sunset, but not before some scuba-diving rat tourists Rizzo brought to the ship earlier recover the treasure from the sea.
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| Performer | Muppet character | Treasure Island character |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Goelz | Gonzo | Himself |
| Dr. Bunsen Honeydew | Dr. David Livesey | |
| Waldorf | Figurehead | |
| Zoot | Crew member | |
| Mudwell the Mudbunny | Himself | |
| Steve Whitmire | Kermit the Frog | Captain Abraham Smollett |
| Rizzo the Rat | Himself | |
| Beaker | Dr. Livesey's assistant | |
| Original | Walleye Pike | |
| Frank Oz | Miss Piggy | Benjamina Gunn (voice only) |
| Fozzie Bear | Squire Trelawney (voice only) | |
| Sam Eagle | Mr. Samuel Arrow (voice only) | |
| Animal | Himself (voice only) | |
| Jerry Nelson | Statler | Figurehead |
| Lew Zealand | Crew member | |
| Floyd Pepper | Crew member | |
| Originals | Blind Pew | |
| Mad Monty | ||
| Old Joe | ||
| Calico | ||
| Old Tom | ||
| Spotted Dick | ||
| Kevin Clash | Fozzie Bear | Squire Trelawney (puppetry only) |
| Miss Piggy | Benjamina Gunn (puppetry only) | |
| Sam Eagle | Mr. Samuel Arrow (puppetry only) | |
| Animal | Himself (puppetry only) | |
| Originals | Bad Polly Lobster | |
| Black Dog | ||
| Spa'am | ||
| Real Old Tom | ||
| Bill Barretta | Mudwell the Mudbunny | Himself (singing only) |
| Jacques Roach | Himself | |
| Swedish Chef | ||
| Originals | Clueless Morgan | |
| Angel Marie | ||
| Mr. Bitte | ||
| John Henson | Sweetums | Himself |
| Louise Gold | Brool the Minstrel | Himself |
| Original | Tourist Rat | |
| Don Austen | Originals | Background Pirates, Native Pigs |
Following the release ofThe Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), it was decided that the next Muppet film would be an adaptation of a classic story.[4] Co-writerKirk R. Thatcher stated: "There were a whole bunch of ideas out there and I was most keen [on]Treasure Island and aKing Arthur story with medival [sic] dragons and knights, in the end we all agreed as a group thatTreasure Island was a better story for the Muppets to take on." In the first draft,Gonzo andRizzo were initially written to portray two characters named Jim and Hawkins, but Thatcher explained that "the studio was nervous that they couldn't hold the emotional heart of the movie, so eventually the humanJim Hawkins was written in, and we cast Gonzo and Rizzo alongside him."[5] About a hundred actors auditioned the role of Jim Hawkins, butKevin Bishop, who did the very first audition, received the part.[6]
In May 1993,Brian Henson announced thatthe Muppets would appear in a loose film adaptation ofTreasure Island. Filming was slated to begin in the fall in London with a tentative release date slated for spring 1994. While the film did not have a distributor at the time,Walt Disney Pictures had afirst-look deal.[7][8] Veteran Muppet performerFrank Oz was unavailable for most of the shooting due to scheduling conflicts with his directing career, so fellow Muppet performerKevin Clash puppeteered his charactersMiss Piggy,Fozzie Bear,Sam Eagle andAnimal on set, while Ozdubbed the voices in post-production. According to Clash, Oz had discussions with him about the personalities of his characters, and had also participated in a recorded read-through of the script; Clash used these recordings to help inform his performances of Oz's characters.[9]
| Muppet Treasure Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | February 6, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1995 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Label | Angel | |||
| The Muppets chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The Muppet Treasure Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [10] |
The Muppet Treasure Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack scored byHans Zimmer, as well as songs written by pop songwritersBarry Mann andCynthia Weil. The film's ending includes the reggae number "Love Power" performed byZiggy Marley and the Melody Makers, which was released as a single and promoted with a music video featuring Marley and some Muppets with dreadlocks.
To coincide with the film's theatrical release, a making-of documentary featuring the filmmakers and the Muppets aired on theDisney Channel on February 2, 1996.[11] On February 14, 1996, Jim Henson Video released a direct-to-videoMuppet Sing Alongs VHS entitledMuppet Treasure Island, which was hosted by Kermit the Frog and featured two musical numbers from the film.[12]
Muppet Treasure Island was the secondMuppet film co-produced and released byWalt Disney Pictures, followingThe Muppet Christmas Carol. It has been made available on home video formats.Walt Disney Home Video and Jim Henson Video first released the film onVHS on September 10, 1996. During its initial home video release, it had sold an estimated 5 million VHS copies.[13] The film was re-released on a "Special Edition"DVD inRegion 1 on August 8, 2000.
The first DVD re-release in the United States was on June 4, 2002, and was a fullscreen-only version. Other releases of these were in widescreen only format. The DVD release has 3 bonus features added like "Hidden Treasure Commentary", "The Tale of the Story Behind the Tail" and "Treasure Island Sing-Along" (but the menus were in widescreen format).Walt Disney Home Entertainment re-released the film on DVD on November 29, 2005, in conjunction with Kermit the Frog's 50th-anniversary celebration; this time the DVD contained both full-screen and widescreen presentations. The film made its debut onBlu-ray Disc on December 10, 2013 as part of a two-movie bundle withThe Great Muppet Caper.
Muppet Treasure Island opened on February 16, 1996 in 2,070 venues and grossed $7.9 million over the weekend, ranking third at the US box office behind the second weekend ofBroken Arrow and fellow newcomerHappy Gilmore.[14] At the time, it held the record for having the biggest opening weekend gross for a Disney film in February. It ultimately grossed $34.3 million in the United States and Canada and $47.2 million worldwide.[15][2]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Though less Muppet-centric than the original trilogy,Muppet Treasure Island is an energetic, cheerful take onRobert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure, with typically solid gags."[16] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100 based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[18]
Stephen Holden ofThe New York Times praised the playfulness of the Muppets as keeping "the story amusingly off-kilter. The mood is perfectly in keeping with the notion of the Muppets as contemporary children dressing up and improvising their own versions of classic tales."[19]Ken Tucker, reviewing forEntertainment Weekly, gave the film a B+ noting that "the film is notably handsome in a dark, foreboding way. The Muppet action blends seamlessly with the human actors, and adults will be kept giggling with wittily anachronistic jokes aboutcodependence, water-skiing, andHenry Kissinger."[20]
Roger Ebert, reviewing for theChicago Sun-Times, gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four. While he was favorable to Tim Curry's performance, he summarized the film as being "less cleverly written, and for moi it's a near miss."[21]Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four writing that the film was a "boring Muppet adventure that doesn't successfully meld the Muppets into a conventional buried-treasure story. I wanted the Muppets to play themselves rather than phony pirate-related characters."[22]
A video game based on the film was released forWindows andMac OS in 1996 byActivision.[23]
TheHormel Foods Corporation (the creators ofSpam) sued Jim Henson Productions for using the name "Spa'am" for one of the film's tribal pig characters.[24] The judge dismissed their suit on September 22, 1995 after a trial for failure to prove damages, noting, "one might think Hormel would welcome the association with a genuine source of pork."[25] When Spa'am later appeared as a racing boss inMuppet RaceMania, he was credited as "Pig Chief".[citation needed]
