Film Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Rated G (very mild comedic violence and coarse language). 88 minutes. Directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt. Written by Gideon Defoe.

Verdict: The celebrated creators of Wallace and Gromit move in – spectacularly – on the bloated ‘Pirate Movie’ genre.

Buoyed by the success of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film series that began in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, swashbuckling adventures on the high seas are obviously back on the list of subject matter guaranteed to attract young audiences around the world.

In many ways, it’s an odd choice for the celebrated stop-motion clay animation team from Aardman Animation Studios, who first burst onto the international scene with their inspired inventor Wallace and his dedicated companion Gromit, who starred in A Grand Day Out (1989) and the Academy Award-winning The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995).

And while The Pirates! contains very little of the famous studio’s unique points of view about the world and the wildly individual characters who usually inhabit their films (such as their delightfully eccentric cast of chickens in 2000’s Chicken Run), it is an action-packed, ravishingly designed and beautifully shot new addition to the bloated ‘Pirate Movie’ genre.

When it’s time to enter Pirate of the Year Award, Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) finds himself upstaged and outclassed by his rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek). A chance meeting with Charles Darwin (Dr Who’s David Tennant) leads Pirate Captain to discover that his loyal companion, Polly the Parrot, is actually the last living Dodo who, upon presentation to Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and the members of London’s Royal Society, will guarantee Pirate Captain the untold riches he needs to win Pirate of the Year.

Mr Lord and Mr Newitt keep the often dazzling action sequences moving at breathtaking speed, while the lighting (Charles Copping) and photography (Frank Passingham) is extraordinarily beautiful. Norman Garwood’s (The Princess Bride, Misery) marvellously atmospheric, intricate production design captures not only the wonder of a life at sea, but also the various land-based locations in rich detail.

Ultimately, the message that begins to emerge is a good one – that even with all the wealth and recognition there is to be achieved in the world, you should never underestimate the value of trusting, loyal friends who appreciate and respect you just the way you are. Flaws and all.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.