In 1996, my parents bought me the
Muppet Treasure Island computer game. I played that game repeatedly.
So much so that after a while, I was able to beat the game
(consisting of three CD-ROMs) in about half an hour. It was a great
game based on a movie which in turn was based on a book. Robert Louis
Stevenson's Treasure Island has
been made into a movie four times between 1934 and 1990, with such
greats as Charlton Heston and Orson Welles playing the peg-legged
scoundrel Long John Silver. This time the Muppets take over this
classic swashbuckling tale. Fresh off the success of 1992's A
Muppet Christmas Carol, the
heirs to Jim Henson must have thought they found their new formula
for success: take classic stories and recast them with a mix of
humans and muppets. How could it fail?
Basically,
it can't.
