What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that there is much PG-worthy violence in this Disney outing, including fatal shootings and stabbings, and some of the pirates, when threatening the life of young Jim Hawkins, might seem truly nightmarish to very little viewers. Jim himself has to kill one. Later theatrical and TV re-releases of Treasure Island excised the worst of it to get a "G," but the video version restores it. You'll see much drinking as well, but it's not glorified.
- Families can talk about Long John Silver, especially compared to other classic Disney villains; he's a murderous cutthroat, and yet almost a surrogate father to Jim, even as he uses the boy as hostage and bait. Is a villain more effective if he's somehow likeable? You could compare the movie with the book Treasure Island and ask if the filmmakers captured the spirit of Robert Louis Stevenson's plot and characters (especially Long John) or made them "Disney-fied."