This year I started reading some longer, more advanced books to our eldest (and the two others if they sit still and be quiet), who's taken a keen interest. It's been a special kind of bonding to get to read books I'm actually interested in, whether for the first time in a long time or for the first time ever. This started with The Hobbit and has included two of the Narnia books, for a few examples. Over the summer another was Treasure Island.
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic boy's adventure was perhaps a bit aggressive for our six year old, contemplating the devious, murderous pirates and the like. I think this was mitigated somewhat by the language, where frequently I needed to translate. In the end he was probably more scared during the Hobbit than he was with Long John Silver and the other pirates of the Walrus. He nightly wanted to read more, says he enjoyed it and was certainly engaged throughout. I'd never read the full version myself (I remember reading this shortened one as a kid), and greatly appreciated the spunkiness of Jim Hawkins, presumably a tween boy, and just how influential this story was in shaping how we think about and view pirates, at least in pop culture. Long John, most of all, is such a tremendous character, extremely charismatic but also overflowing with guile.
While I don't want it to be a thing that we find and watch a movie for every book we read, that has happened already with a few. For Treasure Island I went with the Muppets adaptation that came out in 1996, thinking that it'd be fairly safe for the little kids, plus the Muppets are always great. My thoughts initially, afterward, were mostly that it was fine and I didn't plan on writing about it. But the kids have been keep asking me to play the songs months later, and well, those alone are worth sharing.
A few quick elaborations on why I didn't entirely love Muppets Treasure Island (1996), at least as a Treasure Island movie. A big strength of the book is the daring of Jim Hawkins, and this movie takes much of that away. He didn't have a super happy home life in the book but he did have a loving mother (and a sick father). The treasure map didn't fulfill some long-sought dream ('Something Better') but was rather an opportunity seized. By adding Gonzo and Rizzo as his comrades he isn't all alone at key moments. And they remove several of his most risky, and heroic, actions. In other words he's a bit of a generalized and neutered main character in a boy's adventure tale. As for the plot, a great deal more time is spent on the journey, which is really glazed over in the book, and the endgame on the island, the best part, is remarkably quick.
That said...
The Muppets do much so well, including injecting a whole lot of humor into a story where it fits well. They repeatedly impress (across their catalog) with big show pieces, these are puppeteers performing complex maneuvers and singing elaborate songs in distinct voices and all of it is stunningly good. That's the case again here. The jokes are dense, and I know I missed a bunch of them with the kids asking questions. Also, if we're talking about Muppet Treasure Island, we need to discuss Tim Curry. He's perfect as Long John, likable and cunning, fits in perfectly with the Muppets simply because he's so animated and almost single-handedly makes the film work. I also love that they gave him an awesome Muppet in his likeness when they were done filming. The Muppets themselves fill several of the other roles superbly as well. Kermit as the upstanding Captain Smollett is ideal. A bunch of lesser Muppets as idiot pirates is great too.
Okay, let's get to some of the songs. These were done by Hans Zimmer, at this point a very well-known composer for his work on Gladiator, a long list of Christopher Nolan films (the Dark Knight, Interstellar...) and others. Muppet Treasure Island could be seen, if you choose, as a test run for Pirates of the Caribbean (2003).
At the very beginning of the film we get Shiver My Timbers, where the entire background is told in song form. Captain Flint and the much of ruthless crew of the Walrus bury a vast treasure and Flint murders everyone there to protect the secret. (Video kinda low quality but includes the necessary gunshots at the end.)
And those buccaneers drowned their sins in rum
The devil himself would have to call them scum
Every man aboard would've killed his mate
For a bag of guineas or a piece of eight
A piece of eight! A piece of eight!
After the map is discovered, and the ship is outfitted, crewed and ready to sail, we get Sailing For Adventure. Largely unnecessary to the Treasure Island story (except that it foreshadows), it's nevertheless a fantastic song about the setting off for sea in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.
The next song, Cabin Fever, about the wind dying and everyone aboard going a little crazy, was invented whole cloth for the movie. But it is a wild ride and a banger.
My personal favorite is Professional Pirate, and in this the Muppets get Treasure Island entirely right. Jim is presented with a dilemma by Long John and the rest of the buccaneers. We're not such bad guys! It's a matter of perspective! Join us, help us reclaim our treasure and you'll be rich! This is the crux of the book too and a showcase for how Curry shines.
Now take Sir Francis Drake, the Spanish all despise him
But to the British, he's a hero and they idolize him
It's how you look at buccaneers that makes them bad or good
And I see us as members of a noble brotherhood
Hey ho ho!
So, thanks to our kids daily requests (mostly on car rides, natch), this movie lives on in our household and its songs are constantly in my head. And you know what, I still don't hate them. I might even like them more than when we started with this. Ha.
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