Treasure Island

Just saw this after almost two decades. Had an old copy on VHS that I used to watch regularly as a kid, and this brought back tons of memories.

Not as great as I remember but few movies live upto childhood expectations. Certain things I picked up now were all the clear digs at being utterly British.

Also amazed at how sanitized and goody-goody modern-day animated flicks have become. My 4 year old son would be might confused at mice getting drunk from Rum or pirates dying from multiple stab wounds, etc

Couldn't help thinking that Yoda was inspired by the portrayal of Ben Gunn in this movie -- short, speaks backwards, bit nuts...you get the picture!

Jim Hawkins (Davy Jones) and his friends hire a ship to find the treasure buried by Captain Flint. Unbeknownst to them, many of Flint's old crew including pirate Long John Silver (Richard Dawson) are onboard and plans to take the treasure for themselves.

This family animation was broadcast on NBC in 1980. It's probably the best place for this. The animation is 70's and better than TV level. There is a bit of nostalgia for this type of animation. It has a couple of big names for back in the day. Davy Jones is before my time, but I do remember Richard Dawson who stayed on TV for a long time. There are songs for Davy. The mouse could be cuter, but that's the 70's for you. The story is public domain which makes it worthwhile for WB.

If you think I'm going to give you the set-up of this version of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, you're crazier than Ben Gunn. It's been adapted for the movies more than fifty times. This makes me wary of yet another adaptation, when you have the version with Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery, as well as Robert Newton's much-imitated turn as Long John Silver to measure it against. Still, the lazy producer can look at that number, consider the fact that Stevenson's copyright expired before any of us were born, and throw the dice.

But why do it as an animated cartoon? It's the most expensive form of film-making that ever existed. You have to hire crews larger than live-action crews to draw every frame, and then you still have to hire actors to voice the darned thing. It is my firm belief that animation should be limited to things you can't shoot live. True, that's a small target these days, and there's a drunken rat in pirate gear that Jim Hawkins makes a pet of, but you could do without that. The only rational conclusion is that there are three or four musical numbers scattered through the movie, and for a while, that was the only way you could do a musical, as a children's cartoon. I don't find that very satisfactory. Most likely, some one at Filmation wanted to make his own version, and some one else said "Well, we're a cartoon factory."

It was released at the low point of animation, just after Walter Lantz had quit. Well, that meant there was plenty of talent available, and the background art by Maurice Harvey is marvelous. The character designs are simple, but well done, and the animation is greatly limited. The characters are limited to stereotypes, because this was an era when children were viewed as idiots, unable to understand that adults are subject to contradictory impulses. The voice actors include Richard Dawson, Davy Jones, Dal McKennon, and Larry Storch. This version adds nothing worthwhile to previous versions.

not a bad film, but i did notice they used a lot of b.g. score from the animated Star Trek series, as did Oliver Twist, in which Davy Jones voiced the Artful Dodger. for some reason during a certain piece, i keep expecting to hear, "Scotty, beam us aboard, now!". go fig. but again, this was out the same time the cartoon Star Trek was on the TV. the songs (some anyway) were a bit odd at times. for the most, it was in line with the novel. i first saw this in '81 on an afternoon show on NBC; it was hosted by Melissa Sue Anderson from Little House on the Prairie. i think they showed Oliver Twist as well, though i do recall it being on Showtime a lot in the early '80s.