Treasure Island review – this TV stinker does its best to ruin a literary classic
Did Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless swashbuckling tale need the addition of a superpower? Is it better for reducing its young hero to an afterthought? Nope A lever groans, a pipe judders and thunk: another unsolicited adaptation of a beloved literary classic is deposited on our screens. This particular emission is a six-part take on Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless tale of swashbuckling…
Key points
- A six-part US-UK adaptation of Treasure Island adds superpowers and reduces Jim Hawkins to a minor role.
- David Oyelowo plays Long John Silver and is praised as mesmerising despite the weak plot.
- The Guardian's review calls the Paramount+ series a stinker that ruins the classic novel.
A new six-part adaptation of Treasure Island has arrived on Paramount+ in the UK, and The Guardian's review calls it a stinker that does its best to ruin a literary classic. The US-UK co-production, written by Robert Murphy, is described as a reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson's 19th-century novel.
The series stars Tom Sweet as Jim Hawkins, David Oyelowo as Long John Silver and Hayley Atwell as Bess. The review says the show adds a superpower, giving Jim a photographic and possibly quasi-mystical memory.
Changes to the classic story
According to the review, the new Jim Hawkins has a preternatural talent for recollection, shown in scenes the reviewer finds uninteresting. It says his main contribution in the first couple of episodes is to stand with his mouth open while his mother Bess snogs, bribes and burns maps belonging to pirates.
The review states that Bess has lost her husband and her aitches in the siege of Gibraltar, and now depends on her dull son's ability to memorise passages from the King James Bible for her customers. It also mentions slow-motion spy battles, extra magic memory scenes and family arguments more suited to a teatime soap.
This place stinks!
— a grizzled seadog in Treasure Island
What the review said
The review praises Oyelowo as mesmerising, saying his explosive charisma reduces everyone around him to a smoking hillock of tricorn. But it adds that not even he can lift the plot, which it says drags its wooden leg towards the Caribbean.
The reviewer notes that at one point a grizzled seadog barks, “This place stinks!”, and agrees with the sentiment.
