Muppet Treasure Island-A Fun Muppet Pirate Adventure

When Muppet Treasure Island puts its focus on just being a Muppet pirate adventure, it's a ton of fun. There's an inherent charm to seeing these Muppet characters sailing the seven seas, and the film is complete with all the overly theatrical sets and costumes you'd expect in a Pirate movie. The film also makes some hilariously clever spins on the Pirate genre, such as Polly being a talking lobster instead of a talking parrot-like in the original story. In general, the gags here feel way more heightened than they were in Muppet Christmas Carol, which works in the film's favor when it's delivering one hilariously over-the-top gag after another. What makes much of it work is that unlike Muppet Christmas Carol, where all the human actors gave entirely dramatic performances, the human actors here all give completely over-the-top performances that work incredibly well alongside these Muppet characters, particularly Tim Curry. From his facial expressions and mannerisms to his heightened Pirate accent, it almost feels like Tim Curry is playing a human Muppet, and he does it exceptionally well. 

However, the film falls flat when being an adaptation of Treasure Island. Unlike Muppet Christmas Carol, which always made Scrooge's story the focus, it feels like Jim Hawkins's journey here takes a backseat to the admittedly incredibly entertaining gags. And what made Muppet Christmas Carol work was how it subdued the Muppet zaniness so that the heart of Charles Dicken's story was always the focus. Here, since the film cranks up all the Muppet craziness up to eleven, it can slightly distract from the heart of the Treasure Island story, that being the relationship between Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver. Other aspects, such as the pretty bland performance from Kevin Bishop as Jim Hawkins, make the film a relatively lackluster adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's story. 

The soundtrack also holds the film back quite a bit, in my opinion. There are some genuinely catchy numbers throughout the film, such as "Sailing for Adventure," "Cabin Fever," and "Professional Pirate." However, many of the songs feel pretty generic, such as Jim Hawkins's "I Want" song "Something Better" as well as "Love Led Us Here," which is a pretty bland and forgettable love ballad between Kermit and Miss Piggy compared to other similar songs throughout Muppet history. 

Muppet Treasure Island works better as a general parody of Pirate movies as it does an adaptation of Treasure Island. The film is hilarious when focusing entirely on crazy Muppet gags on the seven seas but falls flat when adapting Robert Louis Stevenson's story. A bland lead performance and somewhat hit-or-miss soundtrack also hold the film back quite a bit. But along the way, there are some genuinely great, standout elements, like Tim Curry's human Muppet performance and some of the most standout moments involving Kermit in Muppet history, mainly when he's hopping around fighting Long John Silver. It all makes for a very fun, if at times pretty bland, Muppet film.

Now Streaming on Disney+ in the U.S