The Pirates! Band of Misfits

The main reason why lots of people will still end up feeling disappointed with this movie is because it's not up to par with Aardman's other work, such as the Wallace & Gromit series and "Chicken Run". But really, the movie in itself is far from a terrible one, though it still definitely has its weaknesses. Good news is that the movie still features some of the very typical Peter Lord and Nick Park humor in it (though Nick Park wasn't involved with this particular movie). It features lots of very quick and clever visual jokes and some often great and funny dialog, all done in a very British style. And that's also a joke this entire movie relies heavily one; the fact that the pirates in this movie are all being very British, with their mannerisms and accents. This was something that I appreciated but I still did wish that the movie would had done some more stuff with it all. For a pirates movie, that besides is also made for a younger audience, the story doesn't really ever feel adventurous enough. It doesn't take you to far off or exotic places and the action, which is something I normally really love in Aardman's movies, is mostly missing in this movie. Not that the movie is boring or anything, it's too short and fast paced for that but it still is all a bit lacking and prevents this movie from ever truly becoming a great one. There just isn't really anything that stands out about this movie at all. Also its characters are being somewhat shallow and you just don't ever feel involved enough with them, or the overall movie. Some of the characters besides get terribly underused and the movie also really could had used a good, fun, strong villain in it. But oh well, most important thing is that I at least was entertained by it, for almost its entire duration and the movie genuinely made me laugh. In that regard you simply just can't call this movie a bad one, even though it's being sort of disappointing still, in some departments. 7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I'm still confused about why stop action films are being made. With the advancements of the past two decades in animation, stop action films are utterly outdated. Still, mostly due to foreign movie-goers, this movie will make a good profit. I guess that is all that matters. When it comes down to it, this type of films gives filmmakers another type of medium to present their work. For a movie that is quite difficult and time-consuming to make, I wish the script had been better. The Pirates wasn't bad. It was simply lackluster. Children's films of the past two decades have stumbled across a key to being fantastic. With movies like Shrek and Wall-E, filmmakers have come to realize you need to make the movie enjoyable for adults and children. It is obvious that the makers of The Pirates tried to do this…and even more obvious that they had no idea how to do it. They added in dialogue about sexuality and alcohol with words that no child would understand. That is pretty much the only way that the filmmakers try to entertain the adult audience. Luckily, this movie will be entertaining for most children. The pirates' genre has been dried up in recent years. Many parts of this storyline are not unique simple because they are working with the same genre as so many other films. On several other levels, The Pirates is quite unique. The whole premise of "Pirate of the Year" as well as the entire conclusion was enjoyable and unlike anything I have seen. Still, I am disappointed that more wasn't provided for the adult audience. The Pirates contains the character of Charles Darwin. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this was the movie's attempt at intriguing the older viewers. As the movie progresses, however, it becomes apparent that the character was added simply because they wanted to add a historical character. The movie presents him as a loner scientist who can't get a girlfriend. It doesn't work. In the end, all the effort of this movie was made for the younger viewers. This movie is worth seeing for viewers who are 9-10 or younger. Any older and the preteen will think it is a lame kid's movie (which it is). However, if you have a kid in that range, I bet they will like it. The action is entertaining enough and the movie is short enough to hold their attention throughout. Unfortunately, the creator's lack of caring about the older audience means this will be a long 90 minutes for most parents. If you want to enjoy yourself while giving your kid a good time, go see Chimpanzee instead. reillyreviews.wordpress.com

The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a terrific movie with a very well developed storyline and a stellar voice cast. It's a very enjoyable film for the whole family, the animation is stunning, seeing Aardman with their first claymation movie since Wallace & Gromit, they've had great success with work such as Arthur Christmas and Flushed Away, but the computer animation takes away from the magic of these movies, thankfully the characters are entirely made from clay here, with an outstanding voice cast to match, including Hugh Grant in one of my favourite roles he's ever had. One thing I think the movie is really lacking is depth, there isn't enough of a relationship evident between The Pirate Captain and his crew, particularly Number 2, I felt a friendship between these characters should have been shown, it would have added an extra layer to the pirates that I think definitely could have worked. It's a very funny movie, it had me in stitches many times, whether it be some of the ridiculous jokes about Charles Darwin, the female pirate, or a joke about leprosy, it has enough humour that will please both kids and adults, more so than any other Aardman movie I feel, particularly the main character will probably speak to an older audience more so than children. Beautifully animated, a fantastic voice cast and very likable characters, I would recommend The Pirates! Band of Misfits to anyone looking for a good family film. The Pirate Captain sets out to defeat his rivals for the Pirate of the Year award.

Just watched this movie for free with my movie theatre-working friend at the place where he works. I liked the dry British humor throughout while it took a while for my friend to laugh at certain places. He did recognize the theme used for 2001: A Space Odyssey as also that for wrestling events as he's a big wrestling fan so that was one part he enjoyed. Like I said, the British humor was pretty dry and since we watched on a morning with few people in the audience, I only heard myself laughing most of the time. But I'm sure if the seats were full, the last sequence would have probably gotten a big laugh, I'm sure. So on that note, I highly recommend the stop-motion movie The Pirates! Band of Misfits especially in 3-D which is how we saw it.

Actually easy to watch, if you forgive the pun. More to the point though, it seems to be fairly difficult to convince an American audience to watch animation movies that have that weird British humor in it. Just take the omission of Arthur Christmas as one big example of this. An omission at the Oscars that is, that is just out of my understanding and reach. A wonderful family movie (far better than some of the nominated animated pictures), it didn't get the credit it deserved. Pirates will have a hard time too. Not only the misfits of the story (they'll have to overcome quite some obstacles), but also the movie itself. If you don't mind an animated movie that actually requires you to use your brain while you watch it, then this could be for you.

What I liked about The Pirates! was how it was whimsical. What I didn't like what the fact that whimsical was pretty much all this film was. It's a good film to take the family to, but it doesn't prove to be all that memorable. It offers merely a few good laughs and a little genre satire. As a pirate film, it certainly could've used a bit more daring do, to accompany the self mockery and also to compensate for the problem of having surprisingly one dimensional characters. Take a film like last years Rango, which demonstrated an ability to riff on its genre while generating an honest and robust sense of adventure which would categorize a serious Western. This film, lacks that bit of robustness; it's all whim. For an hour, I thought The Pirates did a good job of appealing to all ages in its humour, but the climactic act takes things sailing in the wrong direction. Suddenly the movie becomes surprising juvenile and childish. In addition to ending somewhat abruptly, The Pirates leaves a few plot elements without a payoff. The finished product ends up feeling surprisingly shorter than it was, and it all seemed a little light hearted to elevate it beyond the level of weekend entertainment. I love pirates, and I always have, so I felt a little let down, but there's probably enough for a young audience.

There is nothing to beat the Aardmans' animation and this outing for a cast of colourful characters is no different. Musical choices are oddly tied to the play-on-words that dogs the story arc however. The story does not work as a film. It might work as a read-to-child picture story book as a lot of the humour is actually of a word-play type. You need to be a competent reader to see the signs, and if you're a child the film will have moved on before you've caught up with the background clues. 3D is applied very unevenly and adds nothing visually - in fact, just showing the lack of engagement with the characters that occurs. Its a shame that the choice of actor voices means that this feels like a derivative film - Martin Freeman reprising his The Office role but on a pirate ship, for example. I wanted to like this film far more than I actually did and this is all down to the story arc failing to create and work up any tension. It would have been far better not to have allowed the Pirate Captain to know that he was grossly incompetent right from the start, and surely something funnier could have been done with the 'strangely shapely' pirate? Loved the docile-cat-like Dodo though!

Aardman Animations has probably been more consistent than Pixar, especially of late, yet the stop-motion powerhouse doesn't get half the attention. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" didn't buck the box-office trend, but it proves that even with the most generic of premises, Aardman knows how to appeal to a diverse audience. Intent on winning the prestigious Pirate of the Year award, the generically named Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scours the ocean in search of treasure with his deeply loyal crew of ham-loving pirates. When famed pirates Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) burst his bubble, however, he becomes desperate. After hijacking the boat of scientist Charles Darwin (David Tennant), he discovers his beloved parrot Polly isn't a parrot after all, and could win him the fortune he seeks to make his Pirate of the Year dream come true. But to do so, he'll have to travel to London, where the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) awaits. If you're looking for a film that epitomizes British humor, "The Pirates" is exactly that. The jokes are silly, clever and come in rapid-fire fashion, many under the radar. Few animated films balance pure slapstick and wit the way this film does, which is a Hallmark of the best family films. "Despicable Me" is the closest recent example. Most films that do both deliver them in segmented fashion, whereas certain scenes are more physical for the kiddies and others smaller moments are for the adults. "The Pirates" can get both demographics laughing at the same time. That said, "The Pirates" doesn't deliver that many belly laughs for the adults. It prefers being quirky and totally silly and it commits to this style early and often. Characters such as The Albino Pirate (Anton Yelchin) spout the most absurd things out of their mouth, but because writer Gideon Defoe never yields, what could come off as bungling stupidity comes off as funny bungling stupidity. The film moves at a brisk pace, perhaps because a lot of the traveling by boat happens in 2D animated sequences on a treasure map (though one of the pirate's jobs is to throw red discs out the back of the boat so that red dots show up on the map). The major sequences move quickly into one another, fitting some positive character and theme-building moments in between. The result is a well-structured little film with plenty of big, physical adventure and a decent enough amount of heart. Nothing about the story is that emotionally moving, though Martin Freeman voicing Pirate Captain's No. 2 man gives it a good go as the only logical or thoughtful character in the entire film who often calls Pirate Captain out on his impulsive and ignorant behavior. Instead, "The Pirates" succeeds largely on its potent sense of danger, anchored by the terrifying Queen Victoria who couldn't have been equipped with a better voice than that of Staunton. Grant does surprisingly strong and practically unrecognizable voice work as the Pirate Captain, a character both likable and one you can only shake your head at some times. He's the perfect lead for a silly family film such as this. He's heroic and embodies good leadership qualities (hence why his crew adores him), but in child-like fashion he often forgets what's most important, which allows for an easy way for the kids to access the thematic points of the story. So much of "The Pirates," however, will go over kids' heads, though not in some inappropriate way. Rather, much of what makes the movie so funny is how it plays with pirate genre conventions and film conventions in general, which kids obviously have no concept of. Start to finish, it never ceases to find the clever thing to do or say. Simply, "The Pirates" will have audiences of all ages grinning from ear to buccaneer. ~Steven C Thanks for reading! Visit moviemusereviews.com