The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists – Film Review
Director(s): Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Starring: Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Brenden Gleeson, Jeremy Piven, Brian Blessed, Lenny Henry, Salma Hayak and Immelda Staunton
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Aardman Studios, the animation studio that brought us Wallace and Gromit, are being quite productive lately. It’s only been three months since their last film, the generally well received Arthur Christmas, and they’re already back in the cinemas with another feature film. This time, they’ve taken to the high seas, focusing on a misfit band of pirates and their endless quest to gain notoriety.
Hugh Grant plays the role of the suave and beguiling Pirate Captain. In a desperate attempt to win the coveted Pirate of the Year Award, he hatches a scheme to overload his ship with booty. With the help of his crew and bungling nerd, Charles Darwin, he will present his pet parrot/dodo Polly to Queen Victoria at the London Science Exhibition. And, if he’s lucky, he and his crew will still make it back to the ship for Ham Night.
There is no question about it, Aardman productions have an irresistible charm about them. The animation style and the notably British humor has been appealing to audiences since Chicken Run, their first feature film, and continues to do so with each successive movie. The Pirates! is no exception, taking a typical concept and escalating it into a state of ridiculousness. The humor is typical Aardman, relying primarily on one-liners that are delivered in a completely straight faced fashion and without drawing too much attention to it. As well as this, there is a wealth of visual gags lurking in the background of the many locations of the film. Pay particular attention to street signs and shop windows once the crew have reached the streets of London.
The problem with The Pirates!, however, is that its premise has already been thoroughly exhausted. In a decade that has already seen four Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters, each less critically successful than the last, the notion of pirates-as-rock-stars is pretty old hat. That isn’t to say that it isn’t executed well! The Pirates! is far superior to the last two or three PotC movies at least, but by following so close on their heels, it unfairly feels like a copycat film.This isn’t helped by the fact that none of the crew members have names, making their characters difficult to remember or relate to.
Luckily, as the films protagonist, the Pirate Captain manages to carry the film quite well. Grant manages to channel an entertaining and genuinely endearing character with this bearded swashbuckler. He isn’t quite the infamous Jack Sparrow, but rather his own beast that operates with a different, more refined humor that is utterly at home in the Aardman universe. Darwin’s butler, the brilliantly named Manpanzee, also provides a good deal of laughs. In one brilliant moment, a very dazed Pirate Captain looks at Darwin and the Manpanzee standing side by side and asks “I say…are you two related by any chance?”.
It is likely to be doomed to obscurity because of it’s premise, which is very unfortunate. The Pirates! is a traditional Aardman studios family romp, full of gags and sketches that both children and adults will fully appreciate. It will undoubtedly draw unfair comparisons between it and the PotC movies, but as a standalone film, it is well worth a watch.
Score: 3/5
Please Join us on your Social Platform of choice
