Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

A couple of weekends ago, I revisited the film ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ on Disney+. This is a film that means a lot to me, especially when getting to know the works of author Robert Louis Stevenson. I love ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ and have seen it umpteen times.

I know many Muppet fans and movie fans regard ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ more highly than ‘Muppet Treasure Island’, but this is a film I keep coming back to and I’m glad I got to do that recently, especially before the sad passing of Tim Curry, who’s in this film.

‘Muppet Treasure Island’ inspired me in terms of my ‘Doctor Who’ story when I did my sci-fi take on ‘Treasure Island’ in the second story of ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ called ‘Junglos 4198’. 🙂 If it wasn’t for this film, I wouldn’t have written ‘Junglos 4198’ for my blog.

The film is directed by Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets. This happens to be Brian’s second film featuring the Muppets after directing ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’. I’ve enjoyed his insight into the film from watching the film’s DVD release.

That’s the Special Edition DVD of ‘Muppet Treasure Island’, which I purchased in the 2000s. There are some very enjoyable special features on that DVD, including an audio commentary with director Brian Henson along with Gonzo the Great and Rizzo the Rat. 🙂

And apparently, the UK version is different from the US version of the movie. When watching the US version of the film on Disney+, there are three instances of the swear word ‘bloody’ said in the film. Whereas the UK version of the film doesn’t have that word.

‘Bloody’ is replaced by words like ‘bloomin” and ‘blasted’. This was fascinating to discover upon revisiting ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ on Disney+. This is especially having seen the film plenty of times and knowing it off by heart, it came as a complete surprise. 🙂

If you don’t know the story of ‘Muppet Treasure Island’, the film is about Jim Hawkins, a young orphan in 18th century England, who’s joined by his best friends Gonzo and Rizzo and they soon embark on a great adventure. To locate the lost treasure of a pirate captain.

Joining the crew of the sailing ship Hispaniola, captained by Kermit the Frog as Captain Smollett, Jim, Gonzo and Rizzo uncover many challenges in their voyage to the island where the treasure is buried. 😐 This includes dealing with the one-legged Long John Silver.

Kevin Bishop stars as Jim Hawkins, the hero of the film. I greatly enjoyed Kevin’s performance as Jim, and it was great to see him interact with Gonzo and Rizzo as his friends, as they have their adventure aboard the Hispaniola before getting to the island. 🙂

Tim Curry excels as Long John Silver in the film. I enjoyed how he starts off seemingly taking Jim under his wing before he’s revealed to be an evil pirate that attempts to be captain. Tim Curry is clearly relishing his role as Long John Silver when seeing him in this.

The cast also includes Billy Connolly as Billy Bones, the ex-pirate who has the treasure map to Captain Flint’s treasure buried on the island. There’s also Jennifer Saunders as Mrs. Bluveridge, the owner of the Admiral Benbow Inn that Jim, Gonzo and Rizzo work at.

In terms of the Muppet characters, as well as Gonzo and Rizzo as themselves and Kermit as Captain Smollet, there’s Dr. Bunsen Honeydew as Dr. David Livesey and Beaker as himself playing Dr. Livesey’s assistant. Livesey was in the original ‘Treasure Island’ book.

There’s also Fozzie Bear as Squire Trelawney and Miss Piggy as Benjamina Gunn, who happens to be a love interest of Captain Smollet in the film. 😀 Sam the Eagle plays Mr. Samuel Arrow, a role from the ‘Treasure Island’ book that I’m certain was made for him. 😀

There’s also Waldorf and Statler, who are at the front of the Hispaniola sailing ship. 😀 There’s also Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem orchestra. As well as Dr. Teeth, there is Zoot, Animal, Floyd Pepper and Janice. Rowlf is in this film, though briefly at the beginning. 🙂

There are some good songs featured in this film, including ‘Shiver My Timbers’ at the beginning, ‘Something Better’, ‘Sailing for Adventure’, ‘Cabin Fever’, ‘A Professional Pirate’, ‘Boom Shakalaka’, ‘Love Led Us Here’ (two versions of the song) and ‘Love Power’.

‘Muppet Treasure Island’ is a film that I look back on with very fond memories as a kid, and I still regard it very highly today. I’m pleased I got to revisit it on Disney+ recently and I’m happy I got to share a quick review on the movie on my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog in 2026.

I hope I’ll get a chance to do an in-depth review on the film someday, as there’s plenty to share my thoughts on. ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ is arguably a good introduction to ‘Treasure Island’ by Robert Louis Stevenson and it’s a fun-filled film adventure throughout.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂