YMMV / Treasure Island (1988)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: It's not uncommon to see people speculate that Dr. Livesey's near-constant smiling and laughter is actually performative in some way, pointing to his book-counterpart being a veteran who was wounded in the Battle of Fontenoy, and how his sometimes unsettling-looking facial expressions could suggest he's forcing a cheery attitude. Alternatively, others believe he really is that joyful, but his experiences as a doctor, veteran, and magistrate simply lead him to live his life to the fullest, such as slowing down to smell the flowers while he's fighting three pirates.
• Anvilicious:
  • The idea that a young kid can take on pirates twice his size because he diligently does gymnastics every day while the pirates are drunkards is obviously silly, but it's also just so hilariously over the top you can't even be mad at the aesop you're being hammered over the head with.
  • Tobacco and alcohol are bad for your health. Livesey says these outright, but the message is told with more subtlety by the fact that he's one of the few characters that doesn't look like a human potato.
• Awesome Art: The animation is incredibly well done, as the characters move quite fluidly and the timing for visual gags is always just right, not to mention all the perspective shots that are animated with incredible fluency.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The scene from the beginning of the cartoon shows Blind Pew, Black Dog, and a laughing dog. Black Dog sings a song about a boy named Bobby and his love for money. After that it was never brought up again and the dog completely disappears from the rest of the movie.
• Can't Un-Hear It: Jan Robson gave Jim Hawkins the same voice he would later use for Larry Laffer.
• Common Knowledge: Because it was produced during the Soviet era, it has been called a "Russian" film by some modern viewers. In fact, it was made by the Ukrainian studio Kievnauchfilm.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Dr. Livesey has become a fan favorite for being this overly muscular badass fighter that always has that big, stupid grin on his face that almost never leaves. Despite what the Internet may say, he's not the main protagonist of the movie, as it still goes to Jim Hawkins.
• Evil Is Cool: This incarnation of Long John Silver is well-loved by viewers thanks to his very menacing and terrifying presence despite his appearance, being able to give out chilling threats in a calm yet sinister manner. His low gravelly voice with a calm and gentle tone courtesy of celebrated Armenian Russian actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan definitely helps.
  Long John Silver: In one hour, those of you still alive will envy the dead.
• Foe Yay Shipping: A surprising amount of people ship Smollett and Silver together, mostly because of that one scene right before the pirates leave for the island where the two unnecessarily press their bodies very close together as each of them is waiting for the other's next move.
• Fountain of Memes: The movie's version of Dr. Livesey became a major source of internet memes during The New '20s, thanks to his boisterous personality and fighting skills.
• Fridge Brilliance: The Bobby song can come off as totally random as mentioned above, but it actually makes sense when you realize the song's subject is actually referring to Billy Bones, and the lyrics are Pew and Black Dog subtly threatening that they're about to try getting the map from him by any means, all the while pretending to just be street musicians with Billy not recognizing them for who they really are then, hence why he's so shocked to see them come to him individually shortly afterwards.
• Magnificent Bastard: "Long" John Silver, despite his humble appearance, is a menacing and competent manipulator, and Captain Flint's former First Mate. A "nasty pirate who feigns being nice, successfully", Silver recruits the whole crew in the search for Flint's treasure, running the expedition under Captain Smollet's nose. Previously abandoning his crew mate, Ben Gunn, on the island after a failed search, Silver keeps his followers in line through pragmatism and intimidation. When the pirates plan to kill Jim for meddling in their plans, Silver stands up for Jim, casually sharpening his knife on the belt of the lead mutineer, and cutting his moustache off. When the pirates attempt to depose Silver, he quickly spins the situation in his favour, pointing out his crew's failures, while he was given the map. When ultimately foiled, Silver gracefully accepts defeat, reacting with cheeky amusement that Gunn outsmarted him. In the epilogue of the English dub, Silver ultimately escapes after his arrest, taking a cut of the treasure.
• Memetic Badass:
  • The animation's incarnation of Dr. Livesey has become this, being considered a "Chad" due to his shape, fighting skill, and personality.
  • John Silver isn't far behind either, despite his appearance he is a great example of Evil Is Cool with Armen Dzhigarkhanyan's performance being praised for making him incredibly intimidating. Some joked he's so intimidating that he is the only one who could Dr. Livesey make dropped his signature grin in the few brief scenes he's in.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Around 2020, the movie became a major font of memes among internet users from former Soviet states. In mid-2022, memes of the movie had a global spread, with Dr. Livesey in particular receiving several edits in TikTok and YouTube.
  • The Livesey Walk^Explanation  an edit that sets a scene where Jim, Livesey, and Trelawny smugly strut into a bar to Ghostface Playa's "Why Not", went viral during August 2022, leading to art of characters from other fandoms doing the same swaggering walk.
  • One of the pirates manning a cannon fires it full-auto and picks it up in both hands. Comparisons to Team Fortress 2's Heavy were inevitable.
  • Jim delivering Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs to a huge pirate who No-Sells every attack led to the inevitable crossover.
    • In the same sense, Jim beating up a neanderthal-like pirate with little effort was also lauded.
  • As for the stockade attack scene as a whole, many viewers write out comparisons of the four heroes to different types of video game players in a match, the most common variant being: Captain Smollett as the player who gets stuck in the textures as soon as the match starts (getting stuck in the window for the entire battle), Squire Trelawney as the player who has internet connection issues (continuously hitting the painting thinking it's a window), Jim as the player who uses cheats like infinite ammo (playing the muskets like a piano), and Dr. Livesey as the player who gets by purely on skill and flaunts it (fighting off three pirates with one rapier in his non-dominant hand).
  • "The word 'rum' and the word 'death' are one and the same to you! Do you understand?" ^Explanation  Perhaps Dr. Livesey's most iconic line from the film. In context, he's simply warning Billy Bones that he's likely to die if he keeps drinking alcohol (having just saved Billy after the old pirate had a rum-induced stroke). But since, out of context, it sounds like an Implied Death Threat, it only added to the Doctor's Memetic Badass status.
• Narm: The English dub, with its often stilted or miscast vocal performances and tendency to insert the most generic cartoon sound effects that sound ripped straight from Hanna-Barbera whenever they can ends up ruining whatever serious scenes the cartoon does maintain from the source material. Jim's lines often have a Dull Surprise tinge to them (the dullest being "Help. I need a doctor,") Blind Pew is far less intimidating (barring the scene where he threatens to break Jim's arm,) and the generic sound effects are even used during Billy Bones's death scene!
• Narm Charm: That being said, the English dub is seen as endearing as entertaining in its own way. Jan Rabson's performance as Silver in particular still has its intimidating moments, particularly when he threatens the other mutinous pirates.
• Nightmare Fuel: Long John Silver's calm and coarse voice makes even his most casual threats incredibly intimidating. It's a sobering reminder that, at the end of the day, pirates are thieves and murderers.
  Long John Silver: Take a cutlass, him that dares. And I'll see the color of his inside, crutch and all, before that pipe's empty.
• One-Scene Wonder: The titanic, hulking pirate (Implied to be Job Anderson, given his role in the story), due to his obscene size and strength making him literally impervious to everything that Jim throws at him, and it should be noted that he's portrayed as a master martial artist whose introduced as easily taking out a thug that's twice his size, forcing Jim to actually run away and use an improvised rocket to defeat him, because he was literally incapable of beating him in a physical fight.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The sequel that came out in the mid-2000's is agreed to have had great potential because it brought back David Cherkassky to oversee the art direction, meaning the graphics are very faithful to the original's style, and it also brought back several of the original voice actors. However, in its execution the game is a very simple beat-em-up/platformer that can be completed in less than an hour, and because of its short length, the plot is barebones (pirates left behind on Treasure Island somehow manage to build a boat and catch up with the main characters before they even get back to England and overtake the Hispaniola), and most of the characters besides Jim and Smollett are barely present, with John Silver being missing entirely. Time or budget constraints possibly kept this from living up to its full potential.
• Retroactive Recognition: The voice of Jim Hawkins, Blind Pew, and John Silver in the English dub, Jan Rabson, would go on to become the main voice actor for Leisure Suit Larry.
• Signature Scene: Because of the character's Fountain of Memes status, Dr. Livesey's introduction scene and his "The words 'rum' and 'death' is one and the same to you!" quote is recognisable to many people who haven't even watched the whole cartoon. The same could also be said of the scene with him, Jim, and Trelawney sauntering through the tavern.

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