I'm not sure where all the 10/10 and 9/10 reviews are coming from. This is a faithful adaptation of the book - so much so that you may as well be watching a dramatic reading, but that's the only good thing about it. Christian Bale's Jim Hawkins sounds perpetually bored, worst of all when he's narrating behind the scenes like he's reading aloud in class. The settings are Hollywood-sanitized and look like the backdrop of a play, none of the grit of the 2012 British version.A good adaptation has heart and adds something of its own to the story. This version does neither.

Stevenson's novel is one of the greatest books for boys ever written, and I still have the edition my mother gave me thirty-two years ago and which I have read innumerable times since. Although I also did read and enjoyed Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Coral Island and other boys's adventure classics, none of them enchanted me as much as Treasure Island did. This must be the children's novel with the greatest number of film and TV adaptations in history. I have seen the 1934 version, which is very faithful to the book but it also is a typical product of its time in the cherubic cuteness of the kid and the gentleness of Silver. That is OK for an audience of little children, but the first time I saw it I was 16 and I found it a bit too corny, and the final scene between the kid and Beery is a tearjerker that has nothing at all to do with the novel. In the book Jim tells us that Silver simply sneaked off the ship unnoticed and was never again heard of. Then the 1950 Disney version is also too cute –it wouldn't be Disney's otherwise! - although it has a bit more action than its predecessor and the pirates are a lot rougher. The one thing for which this one is best remembered is the great Bobby Newton. He was the best John Silver of them all: a rascal with a twinkling eye who can be charming, amusing, a father-like figure, a solicitous crewman… and then the next minute he'll be a natural leader of cutthroats, a cold-blood murderer and a ruthless pirate son-of-a-bitch. But at the end you still root for him because Newton was able to give his character something that makes him an aristocrat among common criminals. As to the modest and mediocre 1972 version, apart from the presence of Orson Welles it doesn't have anything else to offer. And finally I want to mention a curious Soviet version from 1971 and which I saw in YouTube the other day, called "Ostrov Sokrovishch", and which although it is less than 90 minutes long it manages to be reasonably faithful to the novel. Now, coming back to this version discussed here... although in the book Jim never tells his age, we can estimate that he is between 12 and 15 years old. A very young boy would have never been left alone for hours in charge of the inn in those rough days of the highwayman, and an older and bigger teenager would have surely stood up too Blackdog and Blind Pew with less fear and he even might have landed them a good wallop or two. So, in this aspect Christian Bale makes the perfect Jim. And he is well accompanied by a remarkable pair of British baddie heavies: the hell-raiser Ollie Reed as Billy Bones -a role he was born to play- and the always excellent Christopher Lee as the infamous and disgusting Blind Pew. As to the rest of the cast, they are all good too, and the guy playing Israel Hands is a real bastard indeed. As for Charlton Heston (one of my favourite actors), unfortunately he is totally miscast here. I'm sorry, Chuck, but you were far too old for the role. Twenty years earlier it might have been fine, but not when you are sixty-seven. But then Chuck was the director's dad and obviously he came aboard cheap. Another aspect of this film that I find remarkable, for it was quite risqué at the time, is the frequent use of the words "bastard", "son of a bitch" and so. Of course, if the film were made today this wouldn't be "acceptable" in a story for children and teenagers, and the Censors Office would surely see to that. But that is how seamen in the 18th century –or any other time in history, for that matter- spoke like. And this is a story in which a teenage boy finds himself mixed up with the bloodiest pirates in England, he sees men getting shot, chopped up and blown up to pieces, and then he kills a man in self-defence and nearly gets lynched, gang-raped and hanged by the rogue's mates. All of this is in the book, it wasn't just made up for this film. A superb adaptation, almost 100% faithful to the original, with a good script, a polished cast, a fantastic art direction and a nice fiddle score to get us into the mood for the adventure. Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum!

In my opinion, this movie is the best film rendition of Treasure Island to date. I must however preface that comment with the fact that I was eight years old when it came out and still watch it today from time to time. I fell in love with this film at a young age, without the wisdom to realize that this movie stands the test of time as a rich and well crafted rendition.The story is of course of the famous the R.L Stevenson book and uses a somewhat older Jim Hawkins played by a young Christain Bale. Charlton Heston seems born for the role of Captain Hook and a host of other famous actors play great characters as well. Everything is tied in together with excellent scenery and a wonderful soundtrack by the Chieftans in the flavor of Irish folk music.I watched the movie again at the age of 18, having been exposed to a wide array of films and upon seeing this again, I couldn't believe how much I still loved the film. When remakes are done of films, it's sometimes the first rendition one sees that sticks as the 'prototypical' version to which all others are compared. This film is such for me, that I cannot see another version of the story and find anything of value in it. Call it stubborness or simply childhood attachment, but one must see this movie to understand. Don't listen to the rants and raves of a grown up eight year old, rent it yourself and make your own decision.

I have read the book many times and have every version of this classic available. I am a devotee of pirate history as well so I hope to speak with some qualification.This is, without doubt, the finest, richest version of Treasure Island I have ever seen. The director seems to capture the mood of the story and the broad strokes are well directed making for a well told tale. But, the movie is marvelously rich in detail.The ensemble acting is .......with good chemistry. No one actor steps out as a soloist ......as it should be. And the young man acts a lad should.Why, why, oh, why is this not on DVD?