Muppet Treasure Island

Muppet Treasure Island is a 1996 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Brian Henson. It is the fifth theatrical film in "The Muppets" franchise.
Adapted from the 1883 novel "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson, similarly to its predecessor "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), the key roles were played by live-action actors, with the Muppets in supporting roles. It stars Tim Curry as Long John Silver, and Kevin Bishop as Jim Hawkins alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, Kevin Clash, and Frank Oz portraying various roles.
The film was released in the United States on February 16, 1996, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It grossed $34 million on a budget of $31 million, and received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot.
Jim Hawkins is a young orphan who lives in an inn in England with his best friends Gonzo and Rizzo. Jim listens to Billy Bones' tales about the pirate Captain 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 the black spot. Just before dying of a heart attack, Bones gives Jim the treasure map and begs him to go after the treasure and keep both it and the map safe from pirate hands. Just then, an army of pirates attack the inn, destroying it, but Jim, Gonzo, and Rizzo escape with the map.
The trio takes the map to the half-wit Squire Trelawney (Fozzie Bear), who arranges a voyage to find the treasure. The boys are enlisted aboard the "Hispaniola" as cabin boys, accompanied by Trelawney, Dr. Livesey (Bunsen Honeydew), and Beaker. The ship is commanded by Captain Abraham Smollett (Kermit the Frog) and his overly strict first mate, Mr. Arrow (Sam Eagle). The boys meet the cook Long John Silver, a 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 of shady character. 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 safe keeping.
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 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 the "Hispaniola" 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 lover Benjamina Gunn (Miss Piggy), the tribe's queen.
The pirates find that the cave in which Flint hid the treasure is empty, leading to a brief mutiny against Silver. Silver reveals that, even though he is a pirate, he cares for Jim and allows him to escape. After reprimanding the crew from using a page from the Bible to deliver a death sentence, Silver and his crew capture Smollett and Benjamina. Smollett is hung from a cliff to fall to his death. In an effort to save Smollett, Benjamina reveals the treasure is hidden in her house, but when she spits out a kiss from Silver, he hangs her off the cliff as well. Jim rescues his friends and with Mr. Arrow (who is revealed to be alive), the group regains control of the "Hispaniola", and rescue Smollett and Benjamina. The group engages the pirates in a sword fight 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. 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 stranded on the island with no gold.
The crew of the "Hispaniola" sails away into the sunset, but not before sending some scuba-diving rat tourists to recover the treasure from the sea, ending the film.
Production.
Following the release of "The Muppet Christmas Carol", it was decided that the next Muppet film would be an adaptation of a classic story. Co-writer Kirk R. Thatcher stated: "There were a whole bunch of ideas out there and I was most keen [on] "Treasure Island" and a King Arthur story with medival dragons and knights, in the end we all agreed as a group that "Treasure Island" was a better story for the Muppets to take on." In the first draft, Gonzo and Rizzo 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 human Jim Hawkins was written in, and we cast Gonzo and Rizzo alongside him." About a hundred actors auditioned the role of Jim Hawkins, but Kevin Bishop, who did the very first audition, received the part.
In May 1993, Brian Henson announced that the Muppets would appear in a loose film adaptation of "Treasure 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 did have a first-look deal. Veteran Muppet performer Frank Oz was unavailable for most of shooting, so fellow Muppet performer Kevin Clash puppeteered his characters, while Oz dubbed the voices in post-production. Oz had already participated in a recorded read-through of the script; Clash used these recordings to help prompt his performances. According to Clash, Oz gave him a brief description of each of his characters prior to shooting. Oz described Miss Piggy as "a truck driver wanting to be a woman", and Fozzie Bear as somebody similar to Jerry Lewis.
Music.
"The Muppet Treasure Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" features an instrumental score by Hans Zimmer, with additional music by Nick Glennie-Smith, as well as songs written by pop songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The film's ending includes the reggae number "Love Power" performed by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, which was released as a single and promoted with a music video featuring Marley and some Muppets with dreadlocks.
Release.
To coincide with the film's theatrical release, a making-of documentary featuring the filmmakers and the Muppets aired on the Disney Channel on February 2, 1996. On February 14, 1996, Jim Henson Video released a direct-to-video "Muppet Sing Alongs" VHS entitled "Muppet Treasure Island", which was hosted by Kermit the Frog and featured two musical numbers from the film.
Home media.
"Muppet Treasure Island" was the second "Muppet" film co-produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures, following "The Muppet Christmas Carol". It has been made available on home video formats. Walt Disney Home Video and Jim Henson Video first released the film on VHS on September 10, 1996. During its initial home video release, it had sold an estimated 5 million VHS copies. The film was re-released on a "Special Edition" DVD in Region 1 on August 8, 2000.
The first DVD re-release in the U.S. 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 on Blu-ray Disc on December 10, 2013 as part of a two-movie bundle with "The Great Muppet Caper".
Reception.
Box office.
"Muppet Treasure Island" opened on February 16, 1996 in 2,070 venues and earned $7.9 million over the weekend, ranking third at the North American box office behind the second weekend of "Broken Arrow" and fellow newcomer "Happy Gilmore". 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 domestically.
Critical reception.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Though less Muppet-centric than the original trilogy, "Muppet Treasure Island" is an energetic, cheerful take on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure, with typically solid gags." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Stephen Holden of "The 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." Ken Tucker, reviewing for "Entertainment 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 about codependence, water-skiing, and Henry Kissinger."
Roger Ebert, reviewing for the "Chicago Tribune", 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." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago 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. This will be remembered as the most ignored movie of all time."
Video game.
A video game based on the film was released for Windows and Mac OS in 1996 by Activision.
Lawsuit.
The Hormel Foods Corporation (the creators of Spam) sued Jim Henson Productions for using the name "Spa'am" for one of the film's tribal pig characters. 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." When Spa'am later appeared as a racing boss in "Muppet RaceMania", he was credited as "Pig Chief".