Stevenson's classic is loved by generations for many reasons and this retelling of the story cuts all those reasons out.Spoilers: First, the treatment of Jim by the Doctor, Squire, and Captain is all wrong. They take advantage of him, sell him out to the pirates, cut him out of his share of the treasure and try to kill him. What? Jim was never in league with the pirates and the gentlemen (Doctor, Squire, and Captain) remain honest and help Jim in the story. Only when he slips away to get to the ship do they think he may have gone over to the pirates.The action is also a bit lackluster. The group's escape from the ship felt anti-climatic...almost like a leisurely departure with a few shots.Then there is no assault on the stockade, which was a major part of the original story.And the bargaining between the Doctor and pirates isn't quite explained...why would they give up the map for Jim, whom they already have disowned? In the book, they exchange the map for free passage out of the stockade (already knowing that the treasure was gone because Ben Gunn had joined them).And just where did they film this movie? It looks like it could be off the coast of Newfoundland or something...hardly the tropic environment of the original story.The only redeeming value of this film was Jack Palance. Too bad they couldn't have built a better film around him.

This version of Treasure Island is poor for trying to hard to be original with an existing story. It's one thing to have new scenes at the beginning that show Captain Flint supervising the burial of his treasure, and Billy Bones inflicting Pew and Long John with their disfigurements. But it hurts the flow of the story that so much screen time is given to Black Dog who in the original story was a far more incidental character, and less vicious. Plus, his chase of Jim goes against the pirates' desire to keep their plot secret. It's also bothersome that this version of Long John is played out rather weakly, including how meekly he gave up leadership of the pirates to George Merry and how difficult he is to even understand in some scenes, how morally questionable the doctor, squire, and captain are in this version, how Jim and the doctor are more concerned with the map than in Mrs. Hawkins' death, how Jim joins the pirates, and how the whole ending is changed. In that, it doesn't make sense that only three people can sail the ship at the end, and that Long John doesn't resent Jim and Ben for not revealing earlier the locations of the ship and the treasure which would have avoided the battle and some of the deaths.

This two-hour commercial from the Isle of Man Tourist Bureau bears only a superficial resemblance to the Stevenson novel. At the end, all the wrong people are dead and you half expect the strumpet from the first half of the show to make one final appearance. The Isle of Man provides all the locations, even masquerading (poorly) as the tropics. Nevertheless a few good performances emerge from this hacked-up classic. Kevin Zegers gives us at least as good a Hawkins as Bobby Driscoll. The venerable Walter Sparrow shines as Ben Gunn. And Jack Palance rasps out an engaging Silver but it's disappointing to see his name spelt wrong in the credits. Palance fans might like to see him tackle one of literature's most famous old coots, but Stevenson fans should leave this one alone.

In "Treasure Island" 1999, Jack Palance follows such notables as Robert Newton, Orson Wells, and Charelton Heston as Long John Silver with this second-rate knock-off of the R.L. Stevenson classic novel. An unfortunate attempt at film making, this version plods along dutifully telling the story without the passion, mystery, and intrigue penned into the pages of the novel. Pretty much a waste of time unable to live up to the precedent set by Disney.