The Pirates! Band of Misfits follows the misadventures of the hapless Pirate Captain, (Hugh Grant,) who, after years of mediocre debauchery, nominates himself for the coveted Pirate of the Year Award.
Although his crew adores him, and the Pirate Captain strikes fear in the hearts of landlubbers, in the eyes of his peers he is a bit of a laughing stock.
Will he find the respect he yearns for? Will Queen Victoria have him beheaded? Will he become Pirate of the Year?
We say, “Arrrh me mateys! Scallywags will love this treasure chest of laughs.”
TAYLOR: The people who brought us Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run are back, this time working their stop-motion magic on Gideon Defoe’s Pirates! Defoe wrote the script for this film based on his own book series. (This means if the film does well there’s already material from which to create a sequel.) I think that’s likely, I enjoyed the film.
HOWE: Love the Wallace & Gromit escapades, so when I saw the trailer for this at the beginning of the year I rubbed my hands together and thought “brilliant.” And I must say, Pirates didn’t let me down. When it comes to claymation, no one comes close to Nick Park and his team at Aardman Animations. Arrrh!
TAYLOR: The format was well executed, these clay movies are always amazing feats of film making, but the story itself would have been funny with or without the clay. I like that the film jumped right in to the comedy and the action. The very first visual joke is that of a man who is not supposed to be in the shot, as if the clay characters were real actors and able to make mistakes.
HOWE: I took my little boy to watch this, but I think he was a little too young to get some of the British sense of humour that was used in Pirates. He did laugh a couple of times at some of the visual jokes. Arrrh!
TAYLOR: About three quarters of the way through the film, (at the obligatory “sad part,”) I noticed some younglings squirming in their parent’s laps. Although there’s absolutely nothing offensive in the film, (the more adult jokes involve reading or knowing something of history,) I think the film is a little story heavy for toddlers. Six and up should be fine. No need to pay the extra to see it in 3D by the way, not much happening in that department.
HOWE: I thought the people who they picked for the voice-overs were great: Hugh Grant as the dithering Pirate Captain, Imelda Stauton as the scary Queen Victoria and Brian Blessed as the Pirate King with his big booming voice. Arrrh.
TAYLOR: Arrrh you okay? Arrrh you reverting to some former life, Captain Sausage of Howe Sound?
HOWE: Hoist the sail, Mr. Taylor and set sail for the theatre. Arrrh.
–– Howe gives Pirates! Band of Misfits 3.5 big boned parrots out of 5.
–– Taylor gives it 3 brilliant disguises out of 5.
The feature is currently showing at the Galaxy Cinemas in Vernon.
–– Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are movie reviewers living in Vernon. Their column, Reel Reviews, appears in The Morning Star Friday and Sunday.
