Muppet Treasure Island

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Muppet Treasure Island
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brian Henson
Produced by	Brian Henson Frank Oz
Written by	Robert Louis Stevenson Jerry Juhl
Starring	Tim Curry Kevin Bishop Jennifer Saunders Billy Connolly
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Cinematography	John Fenner
Editing by	Michael Jablow
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	February 16, 1996
Running time	100 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Gross revenue	$33.609 million
Preceded by	The Muppet Christmas Carol
Followed by	Muppets from Space
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Muppet Treasure Island, the fifth feature film to star The Muppets. It was released in 1996 and directed by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson. It was one of many film adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Like the earlier Muppet Christmas Carol, the key roles were played by human stars, with the Muppets in supporting roles. Tim Curry played Long John Silver and Kevin Bishop played Jim Hawkins. Muppet Kermit the Frog played Captain Abraham Smollett, Fozzie Bear was Squire Trelawney, Sam the Eagle was Mr. Samuel Arrow, and Miss Piggy was Benjamina Gunn. Following their success as the narrators of The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Great Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat appeared in specially-created roles as Jim Hawkins' best friends.

While the movie never said what ocean they cross, they do refer to it as the "Big Blue Wet Thing." Silver (using the stars) determined they are heading southwest, with the map showing them crossing the Atlantic Ocean as they set off from England.

[edit] Plot

The movie begins as slop boys Jim Hawkins, the Great Gonzo, and Rizzo the Rat at an inn, listen to Billy Bones telling stories of his days as a pirate and Captain Flint's treasure. When a pirate, Blind Pew, arrives at the inn and gives Bones the Black Spot (after blundering into walls, mistaking a mounted moose head for Bones, and assuming Jim to be a 'little girl' based on his long hair), they realize his stories are true. Before Bones dies of a heart attack (according to Billy Connolly, the only death in a Muppet film), he gives Jim a treasure map. The other pirates then break into the inn and tear it apart in their search for the map. The innkeeper, Mrs. Bluberidge holds them off, giving Jim and co. a chance to escape with the treasure map. Gaining a ship from young Squire Trelawney (and the man who lives in his finger, Mr. Bimble), they set out, but Captain Abraham Smollett is concerned that the crew (consisting largely of Muppet monsters) cannot be trusted. It transpires that most of them were hired on the advice of the ship's cook, Long John Silver, who had befriended Jim.

Three of the pirates, Mad Monty, Clueless Morgan, and Polly (Silver's lobster), capture and attempt to torture Gonzo and Rizzo to make them reveal the location of the treasure map. They are rescued in time, with the only lasting result being the stretching of Gonzo's limbs to great and rather bendy proportions. Silver takes the brig keys from the first mate, Mr. Samuel Arrow and convinces him to take out one of the longboats to test it and see if it is leaky or not. He then releases and scolds the three captive pirates.

After the disappearance and presumed death of the first mate, Jim and his friends learn that the crew are pirates, and Silver is their captain. They warn Smollett, who asks the pirate crew to go ashore for provisions, planning to sail away and return when the fight has gone out of the pirates. This plan is abandoned when the pirates take Jim with them. Through song (Tim Curry's 'only number' in the film), they attempt to convince Jim to join their cause and come with them willingly. He refuses.

Smollett, Gonzo, and Rizzo are captured by wild boars when they arrive on the island to rescue Jim. They are to be sacrificed to their Queen, who turns out to be Benjamina Gunn (although the boars call her Boomshakalaka), still furious that Smollett left her at the altar. Simultaneously, the pirates use Jim's compass to locate where the treasure should be buried, but it is gone. The other pirates mutiny against Silver, who they believe has put them through all that trouble for nothing. Silver holds them off while Jim escapes.

Jim returns to the ship to rescue Smollett and his friends. They disguise Mr. Arrow (who has returned to the ship unaware that he had been tricked) as his own ghost, scaring the pirates and allowing them to retake the ship. In the meantime, the captive Silver reprimands the pirates for delivering him the Black Spot on a page of the Bible and convinces them to follow him again. The three cabin boys head back to the ship, while Smollett stays to talk to Benjamina. They are interrupted by Silver, who has realized that Benjamina must have the treasure. She tells him it is back at her place after they hang Smollett over the edge of a cliff, and they hang her over the cliff as well with a fire slowly burning through both of their ropes.

Jim and his friends retake the ship with the help of Mr. Arrow. They then rescue Benjamina and Smollett by driving the ship near the cliff where the ship figureheads catch them while commenting that while they saved them (and that this made them heroes), it was too late to save the movie. With the good guys reunited, they take on the pirates. Smollett has a swordfight with Silver which goes well "for an amphibian", until his sword suddenly slips out of his hand - as a frog, he has slippery skin. However, Jim stands to protect the captain, and the rest of the crew stand to protect Jim. When Silver tries to escape, he finds himself faced with Benjamina and the wild boars.

Everyone returns to the ship with the treasure. In the ship's brig, Silver realizes he still has the keys from when he stranded Arrow. Jim, who is on watch, allows him to escape with one of the treasure chests, but says he never wants to see him again. Arrow notifies Smollett that he tested the longboats and found them leaky and unsafe. The movie ends as the longboat Silver is rowing springs a leak and sinks, and he winds up stranded on the island with only a joke-telling Easter Island Head for company. During the credits, the rats on the ship are seen scuba-diving and hauling up the sunken treasure.

[edit] Cast

• Tim Curry as Long John Silver
• Kevin Bishop as Jim Hawkins
• Jennifer Saunders as Mrs. Bluveridge
• Billy Connolly as Billy Bones
• Frank Oz as:
  • Miss Piggy as Benjamina Gunn
  • Fozzie Bear as Squire Trelawney
  • Sam the Eagle as Mr. Samuel Arrow
• Dave Goelz as:
  • The Great Gonzo as Himself
  • Dr. Bunsen Honeydew as Dr. Livesey
  • Waldorf as Ship Head
• Steve Whitmire as:
  • Kermit the Frog as Capt. Abraham Smollett
  • Rizzo the Rat as Himself
  • Beaker as Himself
• Jerry Nelson as:
  • Statler as Ship Head
  • Lew Zealand as Himself

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] Track listing

1. "Treasure Island"
2. "Shiver My Timbers" (Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Brian Henson, Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Bill Barretta, and John Henson)
3. "Something Better" (Kevin Bishop, Goelz, and Whitmire)
4. "Sailing for Adventure" (Curry, Bishop, Nelson, Goelz, Whitmire, Brian Henson, Oz, Clash, Barretta, and John Henson)
5. "Cabin Fever" (Nelson, Goelz, Whitmire, Brian Henson, Oz, Clash, Barretta, and John Henson)
6. "Professional Pirate" (Curry, Nelson, Goelz, Whitmire, Brian Henson, Oz, Clash, Barretta, and John Henson)
7. "Boom Shakalaka" (Nelson, Goelz, Whitmire, Brian Henson, Oz, Clash, Barretta, and John Henson)
8. "Love Led Us Here" (Oz, Whitmire)
9. "Map"
10. "Captain Smollett"
11. "Land Ho"
12. "Compass"
13. "Long John"
14. "Rescue"
15. "Honest Brave and True"
16. "Love Power [As Used in the Film Muppet Treasure Island]" (Ziggy Marley, Melody Makers)
17. "Love Led Us Here" (John Berry, Helen Darling)

[edit] Scores not on soundtrack

1. Isn’t That a Story Worth the Hearin’
2. Lighting the Lamp (Segues into "Something Better")
3. Blind Pew
4. The Hispaniola
5. Many a Dark-Hearted Scoundrel/One-Legged Man
6. This Voyage Has Begun (Seuges into "Sailing For Adventure")
7. Moonlit Dance (Played by Electric Mayhem Band)
8. Waiting to Pounce
9. Give Me the Map/No Wind
10. Mutiny
11. Never Get Involved in Politics (Electric Mayhem Band)
12. "A Professional Pirate" (Full version, with instrumental interlude)
13. Benjamina Gunn
14. Treasure Hunting
15. You Dare to Give ME the Black Spot?
16. Return of Mr. Arrow
17. The Pirates Attack/Sneaking Aboard/Where’s the Bloody Treasure?!
18. Long John Escapes
19. Sailing for Adventure (Finale)

[edit] Goofs

• Continuity: When Jim Hawkins is forced to flee Mrs. Bluberidge's because of the invading pirates, he leaves her room without the treasure map in his hand. However, in the next shot, he inexplicably has it.

[edit] Lawsuit

Hormel Foods Corporation, makers of Spam, sued the film production company for using the name "Spa'am" for one of the film's wart hog characters.^[1] Their suit was defeated on September 22, 1995. The judge dismissed it after a trial for failure to prove damages, noting, "one might think Hormel would welcome the association with a genuine source of pork."^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Muppet Treasure Island at the Internet Movie Database
• Muppet Treasure Island at Allmovie