Muppet Treasure Island

1996 tale of swashbuckling puppets

Rating: 12/20

Plot: It's the exact same as Stevenson's classic novel except with a frog and a Gonzo. Everything else is exactly the same!

And Miss Piggy is added, extraneously. I don't like how her character is squeezed into the proceedings. I also don't like Tim Curry as Long John, partly because I picture (perhaps incorrectly) an older, scrawnier, and scruffier Long John and partly because Curry doesn't look at the Muppets when he talks to them. That's just inexcusable. I also don't like how the island itself likes, but I do like the sets that are used for the other settings. The puppets themselves are fun to watch with lots of complex movements all at once. You really feel like you're watching living things with these Muppets. The writing is typical Muppet stuff--some really bad jokes and some unbearable ones--but that's all part of the fun, and there are some nice moments when the humor gets a little dark. I wish the songs would have been a little more fun. They just don't work, although the choreography accompanying them is pretty impressive. All in all, this looks to be a half-assed affair. It would have been a really good straight-to-video release.