Customer Reviews

Muppet Treasure Island

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Muppet Treasure Island" is the most satisfying Muppet movie to date, and a big reason for it is the music. Composer Barry Mann and lyricist Cynthia Weil have written a half-dozen songs that compare admirably to any of the great Disney movies. The big show-stopper is "Cabin Fever", an uproariously silly number about the crew going stir crazy when the ship is trapped in the doldrums. But my favorite songs are three nautical numbers that remind me of the Kline-Ronstadt version of "Pirates of Penzance". "Shiver My Timbers" provides an ominous exposition of how the treasure was originally hidden, "Sailing for Adventure" is a rousing start to the sea voyage ("With our hearts unbound and our flag unfurled/We're under way and off to see the world"), and Tim Curry as Long John Silver extols the advantages of being "A Professional Pirate". Inevitably, there's also a big smarmy "Can You Feel the Love Tonight/A Whole New World"-type ballad, "Love Led Us Here" -- I prefer the Kermit-Miss Piggy rendition to the lush version by John Berry and Helen Darling (maybe YOU'VE heard of them). A big chunk of the album is orchestral music that played in the background of various scenes. The album starts with a brief but rousing opening theme, goes into the songs, followed by the soundtrack music, and ends with a catchy Ziggy Marley closing song and the Berry-Darling duet. This pacing makes listening to the whole CD at once less than the sum of its parts, as the transitions are too abrupt.

Even though Muppet Treasure Island has been said not to be a true Muppet movie, it's awesome. Who ever said that needs to get their head exaimed! I can't stop listenig to the soundtrack. My favorite song on there is "Something Better" but "A professional pirate" ranks a close second. I recommend this to people of all ages. Get it while you can because(from what i've heard so far)Jim Henson productions won't be releasing anymore soundtracks again.

This album is one of my son's favorites. They love it for the sea bearing fun songs and excellent music. The opening song is one of the best opening songs from a movie I myself have heard. IF you like the quality of the first muppet movie music, you will love this one too!

I find the music very exhilarating, in the opening number, you can visualize the pirates laboring to drag the pirate chests across the sand and it's final resting place. The first few songs tell the story of a young man who is in search of his past and his future. Adventure is the goal, and he finds it, with the music following his ups and downs. Even Miss Piggy gets to sing a love song, which isn't bad for a pig. I feel the music helped tell the tale of this wonderful story, and it's not often, a frog, a pig, a rat and a what ever ( The Great Gonzo) gets to sing. This is the kind of music that will brighten your day, if your blue. From a true " Pie-Rat "

This soundtrack is truly awesome! Right from the beginning title, it sets the mood for the movie! Hans Zimmer came up with really clever themes that tell the story beautifully! Not only is the classical music great, but the songs are great as well! The songs illustrate the struggles of a little boy yearning for "Something Better"! And Tim Curry's songs are really awesome! This soundtrack is for everyone who is young at heart! Enjoy!

this is the most awesome soundtrack i have ever heard! i could listen to it 24 hours a day. truly great!

this has always been a favorite movie of mine growing up. i used to sing along with the movie whenever i would watch. i always wanted this album since it came out but coud not find a copy til now. i really enjoy the songs hans zimmer wrote for the movie. i consider him one of the great composers of today. the songs are catchy plus tim curry on "professional pirate" just makes the whole listening experience memorable.

It's been years since I've watched "Muppet Treasure Island" or heard its soundtrack. Or it had been, anyway. I decided to listen to the MTI soundtrack for the first time in years...and it's not a bad CD at all.

The CD starts off in a grand fashion, with a sweeping instrumental tune that was probably played over the opening credits. Nothing too exciting, but a very nice touch.

The strongest songs on the soundtrack are towards the beginning. "Shiver My Timbers," a somewhat foreboding song, is a very piratey tune and sets up the movie's mood and backstory nicely. "Something Better" is sweet, almost overly so, and conveys the character of Jim well enough. Gonzo and Rizzo seem out of place on that track, but that's just my opinion. "Sailing for Adventure" is used to start off the voyage, and succeeds well at doing that. It gets both the ship and the movie moving, and it actually succeeds with its attempts to be funny.

The level of quality takes a sharp drop after those tracks, unfortunately. "Cabin Fever" is too random for my liking. It seems like the songwriters were trying to funny, and were trying much too hard at that. "Professional Pirate" really doesn't add anything to the soundtrack beyond giving Tim Curry a chance to sing, and something about the phrase "professional pirate" grates on me. "Boom Shaka Laka" doesn't have any vocals worth noting, so it gets skipped.

The final vocal track (from the movie, anyway) is "Love Led Us Here." This is the obligatory schmaltzy love song, and the only track that features Kermit and Piggy. I know that the song was thrown in so that soundtracks would be sold and so that the iconic frog and pig wouldn't be left off of the CD entirely. Even so, I still love the song. It fit into the movie better than some of Disney's love songs do (I'm thinking of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" in particular), and the song itself is touching without being overly sappy. Managing to make the love song work without seeming blatantly obvious is worth bonus points.

The rest of the soundtrack's bulk is made up of instrumental music, much like most Disney soundtracks are. It's well done, for the most part, and it worked well enough in the movie if memory serves, but there's not much that I can write about for it.

The final two songs were played in the movie's credits. "Love Power" is a decent song, but it doesn't seem to fit the movie. There's a reason why it was played with the credits. There's also a poppy version of "Love Led Us Here," which was probably made to sell soundtracks. It didn't work. The song doesn't work nearly as well when it's taken out of the context of the movie. More importantly, the Kermit/Piggy version is just better.

Overall, I feel that the soundtrack is a good one. The few songs that I disliked were more than made up for by the instrumental tracks and rest of the songs with vocals. It's not to the level of "The Muppet Movie," and it's not going to replace "Aladdin" or "The Lion King" as one of the best kiddy movie soundtracks. The CD is enjoyable, though, and that's what matters the most.