‘Muppet Treasure Island’

(NEWS10) – With 2020 bringing very few new children’s movies, let’s take a look back. We’re looking at one of the many adaptations of “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. This is not the 1917 version, not “Between God, the Devil, and a Winchester”, nor is it “Treasure Planet”. We’re looking at the 1996 “Muppet Treasure Island”.

If you grew up in the ’90s, the Muppets were still heavily influencing pop culture, but the decline had already begun. With Jim Henson passing away in 1990, the Henson company started to not get the strong box office numbers they were used to. The ’90s period was a bit of a struggle for the company and for the Muppets. After the 1999 movie, “Muppets from Space”, didn’t make as much at the box office as it’s budget, the Muppets were retired for some time.

“Muppet Treasure Island” barely made back what it cost to make. It wasn’t until its release on VHS and DVD did the movie gain some popularity.

“Muppet Treasure Island” is a fun adventure with great music, great puppeteering, a wonderful Tim Curry performance with the same magic of the earlier Muppet movies. The director, Brian Henson, (Son of Jim Henson) does a great job capturing the humor that we have all come to know from the muppets. Fun, wacky, and a little bit of adult humor that goes over the kids’ heads. Over the years, this movie has found its audience and hopefully, it finds you too.