The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Year: 2012
Rating: PG
Length: 88 minutes / 1.47 hours
I’ve always been a fan of Aardman Animation and I usually make it a point to watch the films they put out. And while not everything can be from my favorite Wallace & Gromit franchise, their movies can be a little hit or miss, depending on a variety of factors. I appreciate that they’ve been trying to improve their already impressive stop-motion visuals, and The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) shows off a lot of visual style. However, the plot itself felt just average.
The most impressive visuals here are all the little details in absolutely everything. Characters. Settings. Backgrounds. All the little jokes sprinkled throughout that you’d likely have to pause to catch are a nice touch, but almost feel too hidden to be truly appreciated. The voice work is also quite good, as it relies on a ton of famous actors like Hugh Grant, David Tennant, and Martin Freeman. It’s just too bad that this movie came out about 5 years too late to really capitalize on the “pirate” craze that hit the world in the early 2000s.
While not every Aardman film can pull from more famous movies (like how Chicken Run (2000) is an adaptation of The Great Escape (1963)), I didn’t find the story here that compelling. Or, rather, there were too many small stories crammed together to make a full-length movie. After all, Aardman excelled with the short film format in previous Wallace & Gromit outings. Sure, it’s cute—but it’s also weird and funny in a British humor kind of way. Most will find something they like in this movie, but it’s not likely to be for the entire film.
A visual treat from Aardman but with a somewhat weak plot, I give The Pirates! Band of Misfits 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
This film appears in the following posts:
Cinema Connections #195. Hugh Grant
Cinema Connections #196. Pirates!
