This is a pretty charming film from one of the great independent animation houses – Aardman, home to Wallace and Gromit and famous for using stop-motion and claymation for feature-length features and Oscar-winning shorts. They also do the occasional CG project, like Flushed Away and the extremely enjoyable Arthur Christmas. All of their films are characterized by a definite English sensibility and gentle good humour combined with a lot of sight gags. Hugh Grant and Martin Freeman lead the voice cast, with Grant a natural for the conflicted, sensitive Pirate Captain.
The Pirates is based on a children’s book of the same name, following the lackluster career of The Pirate Captain and his band of men (one of whom is a woman, dressed as a man in order to be near her secret love). Their mascot is a “plump parrot” called Polly; when the pirates commandeer Charles Darwin’s ship The Beagle, Darwin realizes that Polly is in fact a long-lost Dodo and begs the captain to allow him to present this find to the royal academy of science in London. Complicating matters is the fact that Queen Victoria – at least in this story – hates pirates more than anything but also covets rare exotic animals. The well-meaning Pirate Captain soon must choose between a royal pardon and his beloved pet.
This is a pretty good movie with a lot of laughs. I would not say I enjoyed it as much as Arthur Christmas or Wallace and Gromit, but it is well worth the effort of seeing it on the big screen if you get the chance.
Thanks for the review, I can’t wait to see it on the big screen for myself!