Muppet Treasure Island

Yes, I hadn't seen this 1996 theatrical picture before: 

I’ll also be lamenting the loss of Muppet*Vision 3D. More details at the end; it’s a 3D show at Walt Disney World, Hollywood Studios in particular. Vision was the last project that Jim Henson worked on before passing away 35 years ago; for this and many other reasons, people are NOT happy about its closure, me included. The last day is this upcoming weekend; the area will be replaced by a Monsters, Inc. land. Thank heavens I had the chance yesterday to experience the attraction one last time.

As for Muppet Treasure Island, it was a film that hadn’t been viewed before; I must have been a dumb teenager who didn’t feel like seeing any “new” Muppets at the time; what a fool I was. While not my favorite-and I don’t recall ever seeing any other version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson that I haven’t read either-Muppets film, I was still charmed by this film and the story in general. A young boy, Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat are given a treasure map by Billy Connelly’s pirate; now there was someone well-cast for the role. Humans and Muppets appear together in this swashbuckling musical adventure that has some catchy songs—furthermore, I learned that the Pirates sequels weren’t the first time Hans Zimmer scored such a picture.

While I know only a few things about the Long John Silver character aside from people naming a fast-food seafood chain after him, from what I understand Tim Curry was PERFECT for the role. The part required a big, bold performance; of course Curry nailed it. It was an entertaining tale which will inspire a more traditional viewing of Treasure Island in the future. There were plenty of laughs-even during the “breaking the fourth wall” moments. What a buffoon I was for not viewing this sometime in the preceding 29 years.

Muppet*Vision 3D is a fun presentation where people sit in an auditorium to view a short film involving many of the famous Muppets where they spoof the 3D format and there’s even a part where a person dressed as Sweetums interacts with both the screen and an animatronic; that’s where Coppola must have gotten the idea to do that scene for Megalopolis… it opened in 1991 and was seen by me as a kid—along with many other times since then.

As Disney didn’t feel like spending money to try and allow another way (such as building a new auditorium for it) for it not to be gone forever in that format… no wonder there are people who think that this is yet ANOTHER move by Disney to give the finger to their fanbase. No wonder many feel that they don’t care for their customers and fanbase any longer. I don’t want to end this on a sour note; instead, hopefully everyone had the chance to experience Muppet*Vision 3D if they ever had the inkling to do so.