Kermit the Frog "stars" as Captain Abraham Smollett in the film, which also welcomes newcomer Kevin Bishop to the big screen. Bishop portrays Jim Hawkins, the cabin boy who strikes up a relationship with Long John Silver, played to the hilt by Tim Curry. Hawkins' friends are Rizzo the Rat and The Great Gonzo, played by, well, themselves!
All the Muppet favorites make appearances in supporting roles, including Sam the Eagle as the frog's first mate, Fozzie the Bear as the half-wit shipbuilder's son, and Miss Piggy as (of course) "Smally's" love interest, Benjamina Gunn. The Swedish Chef makes a brief appearance as himself, as do the ever-cynical Statler and Waldorf - they're the carved heads on the front of the ship.
The film, after a slow start, is witty and entertaining, with a lot of good one-liners and sight gags (like a copy of Henry Kissinger's book) that go way over kids' heads in the true Muppet tradition. The Muppets blend in so well with the human actors, it's amazing, and the fight scene between Curry and Kermit is more than mildly amusing. The human-Muppet interaction gets hysterical when we learn that Benjamina has had relations with "Long John," much to Smollett's chagrin. (Note: rumors that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have an off-screen romance are false - the frog appeared on The Tonight Show last week and claimed that they are just friends now, since Piggy's taken the success of Babe the Pig rather hard.)
Unfortunately, the songs just don't have the same entertainment and endearment value as the ones from Christmas Carol. The big production numbers are great, filled with cleverly written jokes about codependency and other adult things, but all the songs are just too long. Kevin Bishop's acting abilities are outstanding, but he needs to have a voice change real soon, but Curry makes up for the girlish soprano with his gruff bass voice. As always, there's a duet between the pig and the frog, and it's just too darn sappy.
Still, for its slow beginning and eyeball-rolling songs, the film is witty and entertaining, especially for the culturally-aware college audience. Henson Productions has, once again, turned a classic tale into an fun adventure for the whole family, a huge improvement over the cheesy The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Great Muppet Caper from the '80s. What will the Muppets parody next? Might I suggest a Star Trek spoof a la "Pigs in Space?" They sure did a great job on the Trek jokes in this film!
An interesting side note is the upcoming debut of Muppets Tonight!, a revival of The Muppet Show on ABC. The show, starting March 8, will air from 8:30-9 p.m., just ahead of another Jim Henson production, Aliens in the Family, a take-off on The Brady Bunch and 3rd Rock from the Sun. The first episode will feature Billy Crystal and Miss Piggy in a skit spoofing When Harry Met Sally..., but producer Brian Henson stresses that new Muppet characters will phase out the old favorites because, as he put it, "[they're] movie stars now."
(Source: Entertainment Weekly, February 23, 1996)
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