Muppet Treasure Island

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 reprimending 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.

Following the release of The Muppet Christmas Carol, it was decided that the next Muppet film would be an adaptation of a classic story.[4] 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 [sic] 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."[5] About a hundred actors auditioned the role of Jim Hawkins, but Kevin Bishop, who did the very first audition, received the part.[6]

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.[7][8] 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.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]

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 Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. 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.

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.[10] 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.[11]

A video game based on the film was released for Windows and Mac OS in 1996 by Activision.[20]

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.[21] 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."[22] When Spa'am later appeared as a racing boss in Muppet RaceMania, he was credited as "Pig Chief".

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• Muppet Treasure Island on Muppet Wiki
• Muppet Treasure Island at IMDb
• Muppet Treasure Island at Box Office Mojo
• Muppet Treasure Island at Rotten Tomatoes