Releases: September 2012
Rating: G
Duration: 88 minutes
Genre: Family Animation
Starring: Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek and Jeremy Piven
Director: Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt (Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit)
Reviewer: Jon E Clist
The Premise>> After years of humiliation and failed attempts to win the coveted Pirate of the Year Award, Pirate Captain and his oddball crew take on the cream of the pirating crop – Black Bellamy, Peg Leg Hastings and Cutlass Liz – in a race to pillage the most booty. They soon cross paths with lovelorn scientist Charles Darwin, who persuades the Captain that the crew’s prized ‘parrot’, Polly, could be the answer to the ‘untold riches’ they are searching for. Their adventure takes them to Victorian London where they meet Darwin’s sidekick ‘man-panzee’ Mister Bobo, and the notorious pirate-hating Queen Victoria herself. It soon unfolds that Darwin’s motives for helping the crew are not what they seem, and the Queen has an evil hidden agenda of her own. The Pirate Captain must choose between basking in the glory of being crowned Pirate of the Year, or staying faithful to his trusted crew.
The Review>> So the team from Ardman animation are back with some more stop motion goodness. I am a big fan of the work that they have done in the past with the Wallace and Gromit franchise. Not only visually awesome but also the slightly more clever style of british comedy. More than just set up and punchline, cleverly deep wit is spread throughout these wonderfully lovable animated films.
The Pirates is no exception to this awesome legacy from Nick Park and the Team. The laughs abound and even more than what you see in the trailers. So often with family oriented comedies, most of the funny jokes seem to be squashed into the two and a half minutes trailers, so when you see the movie you can see the jokes coming and it’s more about guessing what order in which they will be unfurled. However here you will find a lot more laughs and the ones in the trailers aren’t the best of the crop either.
For the most part, the vocal talent shines brightly and delivers a brilliant cast performance. Although I have to say that I personally think that Hugh Grant was the best choice for the lead role. His lack of animated voicing experience comes across with a somewhat lackluster performance that seems to be missing a little of the over the top type execution that you expect from this style of film. I am not sure if part of it for me was that when I first heard of this film I thought the lead was being done by Hugh Laurie. I think once you see this film you will likely agree with me that Laurie would probably have done a better job.
That being said, overall this was a very funny film that fits well for all ages. A little of something for everyone is what you will find here. (Whoops, slipped into Yoda talking like.. hmmm).
The Verdict>> A lot of family friendly film fun for everyone.
Some extra bits to know about the film and to look out for>> The film is primarily stop-motion animation, but computer-generated animation was used for much of the scenery (the sky and sea primarily).
The film is based on Gideon Defoe’s novels ‘The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists’ (the Pirates encounter Darwin and Bobo) and ‘The Pirates! in an Adventure with Whaling’ (the Pirates face off against Cutlass Liz).
Big Screen NZ 