Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
I very much approve of this title, which gives a very accurate description of the contents of the film, so much so that no further review is required. Five stars, says Paul Ross.
Oh, alright. This Aardman Animations outing, also known by the vastly inferior title of The Pirates! Band of Misfits, based on a series of kids books that I am unfamiliar with, introduces us to Hugh Grant’s the Pirate Captain and his band of ham-loving piracy enthusiasts, who seem like nice people but awful pirates. Hence their almost complete lack of plunderbooty, meaning Pirate Captain will once again not achieve his dream of being named pirate of the year and gaining the approval of Brian Blessed’s Pirate King.
A pep talk from the ship’s number two, voiced by Tim from the The Office, sees Pirate Captain resolve to redouble their efforts, and it seems like their luck might turn around from another failure when they board David Tennant’s young Charles Darwin’s ship, who recognises that the Pirate Captain’s beloved “parrot” is in fact a Dodo, perhaps the last in the world. He says they could achieve great fame and prizes if only they could go back to London to present Polly at the Royal Society.
The only downside, of course, would be heading into, well, London, where Imelda Staunton’s Queen Victoria sits, festering in her legendary hatred of pirates. Will the Pirates’ disguise as Scientists hold up? Does Queen Victoria have ulterior culinary motives for the dodo? Will there be wild adventures involving baking soda and vinegar? The answers can only be found by watching this film. Or reading the Wikipedia recap, I suppose, but I’d recommend that you watch the film instead, because it is really quite good indeed.
The most important thing to say about this, I suppose, is that it’s very funny, and consistently entertaining. I roundly applaud the script and performances. I should also add that it looks wonderful too. As what we done said with Chicken Run a few weeks ago, it’s clearly recognisable as an Aardman production, but at the same time has a markedly different feel to their other work just as much as Chicken Run felt distinct from Wallace & Gromit. I think it’s mainly static pictures that emphasise the visual similarities.
And I suppose with that full throated recommendation already given there’s not much more that I need to say about The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!, at least until the invention of a time machine that will allow me to go back and shout at people, myself particularly, for not watching this enough back on its release, an oversight which has doomed us to a world where no sequels were made. A great shame, as I would have loved to see The Pirates! in an Adventure with Communists. Such is life.