The Pirates! Band of Misfits Movie
Review
Have you ever seen a movie where the main characters don't even
have names? It doesn't happen very often, but somehow the characters
find their own ways to be memorable.
Remembering the unique bit of each pirate to recall his name
is not as easy in a review as it flows on the screen.
We met the pirate with gout, the pirate with a scarf, the strangely
curvaceous pirate, the albino pirate and more. Their captain is
called "Captain", which is the closest to a name that
any of them have. The captain provides his crew with ham dinners
on a regular basis.
The captain is only regarded as apt by his crew, though. The
other pirates all think that he is ineffective and weak. He is
forever attacking ships that are not carrying any treasure, which
is really a bummer when you're a pirate. He is always shunned
at the awards for Pirate of the Year, and his contenders laugh
at him. They include Black Bellamy, Peg Leg Hastings and Cutlass
Liz.
The misfit pirates get a bit of good luck when they have a chance
to meet Charles Darwin, not yet famous as a scientist, who realizes
that Captain's fat parrot isn't a parrot - he is a Dodo bird,
and they are believed to be extinct. Darwin wants to show off
the Dodo to the Royal Scientific Society for a big prize, and
the captain agrees to the plan, since it could be a way for him
to win the best pirate award. But Queen Victoria, who hates pirates,
is also interested in the Dodo.
Fans of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run will recognize the
same type of claymation in Pirates - Band of Misfits. Their bug-eyed
faces with their Chiclet teeth are even more detailed than the
previous Claymation films. The CGI water effects were enjoyed
by many.
This movie does a wonderful job in blending silliness and dry
wit, and that carries the film. Our pirate friends are silly,
but they are still pirates, leading to many amusing moments. When
the "Scientist Captain" infiltrates the Royal Society,
it proves to be just as entertaining as all of the action-packed
scenes.
The cast of The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a stroke of movie-making
genius. Hugh Grant will not be easily recognized as the captain,
and his advisers do a wonderful job of competing for his attention.
The children who see this movie will love the monkey with cue
cards, trained by Darwin.
The British actually don't make a lot of animated films, but
they make us believe that these clay or pixelated characters are
real, and we can feel for them. The film is one that can be enjoyed
by many differing age groups, on many different levels. You'll
likely have as good a time at this movie as your children will,
just not at the same parts. When you sign on for the voyage of
The Pirates! Band of Misfits, you'll certainly enjoy the ride.
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