User Reviews

Aardman Animations has probably been more consistent than Pixar, especially of late, yet the stop-motion powerhouse doesn't get half the attention. "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" didn't buck the box-office trend, but it proves that even with the most generic of premises, Aardman knows how to appeal to a diverse audience.

Intent on winning the prestigious Pirate of the Year award, the generically named Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scours the ocean in search of treasure with his deeply loyal crew of ham-loving pirates. When famed pirates Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) burst his bubble, however, he becomes desperate. After hijacking the boat of scientist Charles Darwin (David Tennant), he discovers his beloved parrot Polly isn't a parrot after all, and could win him the fortune he seeks to make his Pirate of the Year dream come true. But to do so, he'll have to travel to London, where the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) awaits.

If you're looking for a film that epitomizes British humor, "The Pirates" is exactly that. The jokes are silly, clever and come in rapid-fire fashion, many under the radar. Few animated films balance pure slapstick and wit the way this film does, which is a Hallmark of the best family films. "Despicable Me" is the closest recent example. Most films that do both deliver them in segmented fashion, whereas certain scenes are more physical for the kiddies and others smaller moments are for the adults. "The Pirates" can get both demographics laughing at the same time.

That said, "The Pirates" doesn't deliver that many belly laughs for the adults. It prefers being quirky and totally silly and it commits to this style early and often. Characters such as The Albino Pirate (Anton Yelchin) spout the most absurd things out of their mouth, but because writer Gideon Defoe never yields, what could come off as bungling stupidity comes off as funny bungling stupidity.

The film moves at a brisk pace, perhaps because a lot of the traveling by boat happens in 2D animated sequences on a treasure map (though one of the pirate's jobs is to throw red discs out the back of the boat so that red dots show up on the map). The major sequences move quickly into one another, fitting some positive character and theme-building moments in between. The result is a well-structured little film with plenty of big, physical adventure and a decent enough amount of heart.

Nothing about the story is that emotionally moving, though Martin Freeman voicing Pirate Captain's No. 2 man gives it a good go as the only logical or thoughtful character in the entire film who often calls Pirate Captain out on his impulsive and ignorant behavior. Instead, "The Pirates" succeeds largely on its potent sense of danger, anchored by the terrifying Queen Victoria who couldn't have been equipped with a better voice than that of Staunton.

Grant does surprisingly strong and practically unrecognizable voice work as the Pirate Captain, a character both likable and one you can only shake your head at some times. He's the perfect lead for a silly family film such as this. He's heroic and embodies good leadership qualities (hence why his crew adores him), but in child-like fashion he often forgets what's most important, which allows for an easy way for the kids to access the thematic points of the story.

So much of "The Pirates," however, will go over kids' heads, though not in some inappropriate way. Rather, much of what makes the movie so funny is how it plays with pirate genre conventions and film conventions in general, which kids obviously have no concept of. Start to finish, it never ceases to find the clever thing to do or say.

Simply, "The Pirates" will have audiences of all ages grinning from ear to buccaneer.

~Steven C

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Pirates! An Adventure with Scientists or Band of Misfits as it is known outside the UK for some reason, is the latest stop-motion feature from Aardman Animations, the studio behind the likes of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. It is based on the first two novels in the Pirates! Series by Gideon Defoe.

Set in 1837, the story follows the adventures of a pirate captain called Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) in his attempts to win the Pirate of the Year competition for the first time. Despite being mostly deluded and incompetent he is actually kind at heart and has the respect of his crew. He is really up against it through when it comes to winning the competition because he is a pretty rubbish pirate and is up against the cream of the piratical world which includes Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) and Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven). While attempting to rob a ship, Pirate Captain has a chance meeting with Charles Darwin (David Tennant) who notices that the ship's parrot, Polly is in fact the world's last Dodo. Darwin, the Captain and his crew travel to London to show the Scientific community their discovery but while there risk bumping into the staunchly anti-pirate, Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton).

As you'd expect from an Aardman production, the film is full of both subtle and not so subtle humour. One of the first things that made me laugh was the names of Pirate Captain's crew. There is The Pirate with a Scarf (Marin Freeman), so named because he wears a scarf, The Pirate with Gout (Brendan Gleeson) who is fat, the Albino Pirate (Russell Tovey) and the best of them all, the Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (Ashley Jensen) who is a woman in a fake beard. They are great names which bought a smile to my face each time they were used. A lot of the humour comes from the book on which the film is based but it is liberally laced with Aardman's trademark subtlety. Every shop sign or wanted poster features a pun and there are nods to the likes of Blackadder. It's the sort of film that will take several viewings in order to see all of the jokes.

The animation is top notch, as it should be. Aardman are the masters of their art and having dabbled in stop-motion animation myself, I understand the time and effort that must go into making a stop-motion feature. Aardman has come a long way from the rough and ready clay models of The Wrong Trousers but the models still maintain their distinctive style and it is obvious that care has been taken during each of the millions of frames.

The voice cast is excellent. Most of the actors are instantly recognisable but David Tennant puts on a convincing accent for his interpretation of Charles Darwin. The actors help to make the scrip very funny and I'm pleased to see that the filmmakers have stuck with a mostly British cast and stayed away from an A-List star.

The soundtrack is enjoyable and uses songs which are not only great but fit the story perfectly. You can expect to hear the likes of The Clash, Flight of the Concords and Blur.

While my girlfriend, most of the adult audience and myself enjoyed the film, the young children in the audience seemed a little bored by it. I don't think there was enough in the film to keep the young children entertained and a lot of the humour was going over their head. It is almost like the film has been pitched at an adult audience, which is fine and worked, but with a U rating and an Easter release, lots of children will go and may be disappointed.

This is not Aardman's best work but it was an enjoyable 88 minutes that featured plenty of laughs and a fairly interesting but in the end throw away plot. I would definitely go back to watch the sequel and will watch it again when it is inevitably shown on TV during a future Christmas period.

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Actually easy to watch, if you forgive the pun. More to the point though, it seems to be fairly difficult to convince an American audience to watch animation movies that have that weird British humor in it. Just take the omission of Arthur Christmas as one big example of this. An omission at the Oscars that is, that is just out of my understanding and reach. A wonderful family movie (far better than some of the nominated animated pictures), it didn't get the credit it deserved.

Pirates will have a hard time too. Not only the misfits of the story (they'll have to overcome quite some obstacles), but also the movie itself. If you don't mind an animated movie that actually requires you to use your brain while you watch it, then this could be for you.

When I saw this film the first time around, I was inundated with a lot of "life stuff", and so I sat in the audience not really reacting to much of anything, and thinking and feeling that I could predict every gag and story point that came me. I was just in the wrong frame of mind, and so I failed to enjoy my first viewing.

A few days ago I checked out the DVD, and man I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.

Yes, this is borderline cliché in terms of a Pirate-Genre send-up, but it has a lot of good British subtlety in the humor to be both very fresh and highly humorous. Everything from the expressions of background characters, to obvious names for characters, to the occasional British talent of understatement in the dialogue.

There is no historical accuracy here, and the pirating is kept appropriately G-rated for a family outing, though the film and its humor occasionally skirt into PG territory.

Surprisingly Hugh Grant plays the lead role of the Pirate Captain, and the Hobbit's own Bilbo Baggins in the form of Martin Freeman plays his first mate Number Two, showing the audience that indeed talented actors can do anything, even play stop motion animated pirates for a children's film.

The big act III escapade is appropriately Aardmanesque (whom seem to take quite a few of their cues from Lucas's Star Wars and Indy Jones films) as we see the characters do battle to right wrongs and resume their brand of ill-conceived piracy.

Good laughs, good animation, lots of subtle and intelligent humor mixed in with good old fashioned gags, this film should entertain everyone in the family on some level.

Enjoy.

The main reason why lots of people will still end up feeling disappointed with this movie is because it's not up to par with Aardman's other work, such as the Wallace & Gromit series and "Chicken Run". But really, the movie in itself is far from a terrible one, though it still definitely has its weaknesses.

Good news is that the movie still features some of the very typical Peter Lord and Nick Park humor in it (though Nick Park wasn't involved with this particular movie). It features lots of very quick and clever visual jokes and some often great and funny dialog, all done in a very British style. And that's also a joke this entire movie relies heavily one; the fact that the pirates in this movie are all being very British, with their mannerisms and accents. This was something that I appreciated but I still did wish that the movie would had done some more stuff with it all.

For a pirates movie, that besides is also made for a younger audience, the story doesn't really ever feel adventurous enough. It doesn't take you to far off or exotic places and the action, which is something I normally really love in Aardman's movies, is mostly missing in this movie. Not that the movie is boring or anything, it's too short and fast paced for that but it still is all a bit lacking and prevents this movie from ever truly becoming a great one.

There just isn't really anything that stands out about this movie at all. Also its characters are being somewhat shallow and you just don't ever feel involved enough with them, or the overall movie. Some of the characters besides get terribly underused and the movie also really could had used a good, fun, strong villain in it.

But oh well, most important thing is that I at least was entertained by it, for almost its entire duration and the movie genuinely made me laugh. In that regard you simply just can't call this movie a bad one, even though it's being sort of disappointing still, in some departments.

7/10

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Just watched this movie for free with my movie theatre-working friend at the place where he works. I liked the dry British humor throughout while it took a while for my friend to laugh at certain places. He did recognize the theme used for 2001: A Space Odyssey as also that for wrestling events as he's a big wrestling fan so that was one part he enjoyed. Like I said, the British humor was pretty dry and since we watched on a morning with few people in the audience, I only heard myself laughing most of the time. But I'm sure if the seats were full, the last sequence would have probably gotten a big laugh, I'm sure. So on that note, I highly recommend the stop-motion movie The Pirates! Band of Misfits especially in 3-D which is how we saw it.

Having loved Aardman's other work, especially Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep, I was much looking forward to The Pirates! And I found myself loving it. Apart from sagging slightly in the pace in the middle with a couple of scenes that could've done with more punch perhaps, it has all the attributes that made me love Aardman in the first place.

For instance, The Pirates! is a marvellous looking film, you could really tell that a lot of creativity and effort went into it. The colours and backgrounds are plentiful and rich with always something interesting to look at, and the character designs are appealing with the title character reminding of a youthful Wallace with hair and a beard. The 3D is one of the rare instances where it enhances the visuals and action rather than detract from it.

Theodore Shapiro's music is enough to rouse the spirit, and does very well conveying a sense of adventure. The songs featured are fun and memorable. I also loved the crispness and wit of the dialogue managing to appeal to children and adults alike, and the story is exciting with lots of charm and heart. The characters appeal because of their larger-than-life personalities, true the names are on the generic side(Pirate Captain, Pirate with gout) but that was probably the intention. I did enjoy seeing the likes of Charles Darwin and Queen Victoria as well, and they especially Queen Victoria added a lot to the film.

As for the vocal cast, the cast itself was one of the film's main attractions and the voice work is first rate. Hugh Grant shows impeccable comic timing, and Salma Hayak voices Cutlass Liz with lots of sass. Jeremy Piven shows that he can do wonderfully with a character that is strongly-written and provides a good contrast to Grant's Pirate Captain. Brendan Gleeson and Brian Blessed give rousing turns, David Tennant's Charles Darwin charms and Imelda Staunton voices Queen Victoria as if she were born to do it.

Overall, Aardman does it again, a wonderful family film that anybody could enjoy. 9/10 Bethany Cox

What I liked about The Pirates! was how it was whimsical. What I didn't like what the fact that whimsical was pretty much all this film was. It's a good film to take the family to, but it doesn't prove to be all that memorable. It offers merely a few good laughs and a little genre satire.

As a pirate film, it certainly could've used a bit more daring do, to accompany the self mockery and also to compensate for the problem of having surprisingly one dimensional characters. Take a film like last years Rango, which demonstrated an ability to riff on its genre while generating an honest and robust sense of adventure which would categorize a serious Western. This film, lacks that bit of robustness; it's all whim.

For an hour, I thought The Pirates did a good job of appealing to all ages in its humour, but the climactic act takes things sailing in the wrong direction. Suddenly the movie becomes surprising juvenile and childish. In addition to ending somewhat abruptly, The Pirates leaves a few plot elements without a payoff.

The finished product ends up feeling surprisingly shorter than it was, and it all seemed a little light hearted to elevate it beyond the level of weekend entertainment. I love pirates, and I always have, so I felt a little let down, but there's probably enough for a young audience.

There is nothing to beat the Aardmans' animation and this outing for a cast of colourful characters is no different. Musical choices are oddly tied to the play-on-words that dogs the story arc however. The story does not work as a film. It might work as a read-to-child picture story book as a lot of the humour is actually of a word-play type. You need to be a competent reader to see the signs, and if you're a child the film will have moved on before you've caught up with the background clues. 3D is applied very unevenly and adds nothing visually - in fact, just showing the lack of engagement with the characters that occurs. Its a shame that the choice of actor voices means that this feels like a derivative film - Martin Freeman reprising his The Office role but on a pirate ship, for example. I wanted to like this film far more than I actually did and this is all down to the story arc failing to create and work up any tension. It would have been far better not to have allowed the Pirate Captain to know that he was grossly incompetent right from the start, and surely something funnier could have been done with the 'strangely shapely' pirate? Loved the docile-cat-like Dodo though!

Ardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation have done a absolutely fantastic job on Pirates.

First off lets talk about this films unique visual style (combining delightfully old school stop motion clay animation with modern CGI) It looks absolutely gorgeous, very similar to chicken run but with a lot more variation in terms of scenery and characters.

I had the pleasure of seeing it in 2D so while i cant comment on the additional effects that 3D would have brought it still looked fantastic, the colors, brightness and cinematography where perfect, no weird HD noise here, absolutely flawless camera work, this is not your average 2D film ,especially if your cinema has Digital 2-4K Projectors, mine did and it looked awesome.

As for the story, well suffice to say it doesn't stray far from the average Aardman stock but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, the characters stand out much more than they have done in the past and the writing, comedy and bombastic style are very much still intact.

If you want a funny, pretty and interesting movie to keep your kids and you very much entertained for the 2Hours~ it takes to watch this wonderful movie nothing in this would should stop you

5/5 Visuals 5/5 Sound 5/5 Story

= 5/5 Stars overall

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Pirates! Band of Misfits is another fun romp from Aardman with the top class acting, animation and all round production values we've come to expect from the studio.

Unfortunately Pirates was missing one key ingredient usually found in Aardman productions and that is a rock solid story. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with the story, it's just that there wasn't really anything special about it either and as such it failed to engage me as it plodded along very predictably.

There's some nice action pieces as you'd expect but again these just felt like they were shoved in because 'that's what you do' and there was more than a bit of 'let's top our last chase sequence' going on behind the motivation as well.

Ultimately Pirates! Band of Misfits was an enjoyable way to spend an evening but it's not going to leave a lasting impression the way Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run did.

It's an Aardman film, so the animation is as faultless as ever. However, the characters aren't quite as warm and charismatic as our favourites, Wallace and Grommit. Hugh Grant is masterfully well suited to the Pirate Captain role and the film is entertaining for the most part. But, it failed to capture us unreservedly.

The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) wants more than anything to be respected in the pirate community. A consistent underdog, the Captain once again enters the race for the Pirate of the Year award before being blown away by the stout competition. Determined to change his fortune, the Captain and his crew set out on a series of misadventures that fail to bring home the booty they had expected. Desperate and downtrodden, the crew comes across a lonely scientist who turns out to be none other than Charles Darwin (David Tennant). Darwin informs the Captain that his parrot, Polly, is actually the last remaining dodo bird. Sensing an opportunity to make his fortune, the Captain enters Polly in a scientific contest, unwitting opening himself up to the ire of Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton).

Admittedly I am not in the target audience for The Pirates! Band of Misfits. I am not a child nor do I have children and more importantly, I've never been a big fan of the previous Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt collaborations. While I respect the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run, I haven't found a reason to fully buy into any of these movies and I've certainly never held much excitement for them. The style of animation is cool in a retro, simple sort of way but quite honestly, I've found all of the Lord-Newitt films to be boring and unfunny. Frankly, I'd given up on these collaborations entirely before The Pirates. The trailer piqued my interest though and I ended up being genuinely intrigued by the time I got around the seeing it.

As is the case far too often, however, almost all of the parts I really enjoyed about The Pirates found its way into the blasted trailer and therefore fell flat in the context of the film. There are a few more laughs here and there but for the most part, if you saw the trailer (and how could you avoid it, honestly, given how fervently the studio pushed it) then you've already cashed in most of the movie's bigger chips. The monkey who communicates through humorous cards, the misguided pirating shenanigans, the sea monster bit, etc. all of the funnier bits can be found in the three minute preview. On the flip side, much of the film's plot is completely unexpected and the tone is significantly different than what I imagined going in. The Darwin component caught me off guard and the twist that he initially brings to the table is great. But those plot points are almost always swallowed up by the lack of interest that began brewing within me from very beginning.

The Pirates definitely has a British sensibility at its core and that comes in to play in terms of the unhurried, meticulous way in which Lord and Newitt take the audience through the narrative. I love British films and television shows and I thoroughly appreciate the detailed way that British filmmakers tend to tell their story. But good grief, that style just doesn't work at all in a kid's film. I cannot imagine any of the kids I work with even sitting through The Pirates let alone coming away impressed. I laughed a few times and I enjoyed the handful of obligatory adult-themed bits, but I had to work to get through this film more than I ever should when watching an 88 minute kid's movie.

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The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Dir Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt, 2012) is the first hand-animated feature film released by Aardman Studios since the successful Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Dir. Steve Box & Nick Park, 2005). Much like the Wallace and Gromit franchise, The Pirates! features plenty of intertextual jokes, a plot full of twists and a generally entertaining film.

The narrative follows a simple but eventful plot so as to appeal to the younger audience. Many of the jokes throughout The Pirates! therefore utilise slapstick and basic comedy to please the target audience. However, for the adult spectator, many jokes are intertextual and may need multiple viewings to understand or even notice them. This use of gags, and simple plot, can be seen all through Aardman's filmography.

Aardman famously utilise a British cast in their films and they do not forsake this convention in The Pirates!. Hugh Grant gives, arguably, the best performance of his career as the Pirate Captain, helping drive the story forward with a strong supporting British cast. The films roster is full of other famous British faces including David Tennant, Martin Freeman, Russell Tovey and Brian Blessed. Yet even with this almost pure British cast The Pirates! seems very American. Perhaps it is the partnership with Sony and the over-excessive use of CGI, or perhaps it is the plot that bears similarities to the U.S. blockbuster, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Dir Gore Verbinski, 2003), but The Pirates! just seemingly lacks the charm and quaintness that the Wallace and Gromitfranchise has.

Finally, I will briefly discuss the use of 3-D within The Pirates!, which was the first film I have seen in 3-D this year (2012). And having only previously seen Jackass 3D and Avatar in 3-D I have mixed opinions on cinema's desire to use this media. I believe that some films, like Avatar, cleverly utilised 3-D by enhancing the depth of field, whereas many films desire only to pop things out of the screen at the audience Unfortunately, The Pirates! attempts to do both of these things, causing the clarity of anything in the background to be hindered because of the foreground focus. I would urge people not to waste money seeing this movie, and countless others, in the third dimension.

Aardman had a lot to live up to when creating, and releasing, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, due to the success of their other films. I have to say it was a little disappointing as I had gone into the cinema expecting Wallace and Gromit on an epic ocean-battle scale, while keeping the quaint "Britishness" presented by both the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run (Dir. Peter Lord & Nick Park, 2000). But in fact I found a clay-mation of The Pirates of the Caribbean with a stronger plot and exciting characters. All I can hope is that the next film to come out of Aardman studios is another Wallace and Gromit.

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We haven't seen a full length clay animated Aardman film in a while. Their recent full length films are CGI. They are not bad though but we kind of miss seeing their stop-motion animation in the big screen with characters showing off their teeth and some visible fingerprints on the models. After six years, their traditional animation returns to cinema by this movie, The Pirates! Band of Misfits. There isn't much of a change. It's not as brilliant as their other films but the delight and excitement are still there.

Happily, the studio still has its greatness. Sadly, there are no "Easter Eggs" from their other films as they usually do. It doesn't quite matter though. At least they recaptured the fun and it has a big heart. The story is just simple but it's quite a ride. The connections with the history is silly but also kind of hilarious. Its ludicrousness already makes a good joke. The voice acting is predictably good. Hugh Grant gives The Pirate Captain a delightful personality. Martin Freeman is just wonderful as his backup. Russell Tovey and David Tennant also lightens the adventure. Imelda Staunton makes a threatening villain in this movie.

Their stop motion animation is always magnificent. They can give these clay models a wonderful personality by their looks and facial expressions. It also has the trademark character design with them showing off their teeth. We know that these are just clay and some other stuff, but even if they are small, it still can make a big and marvelous adventure. Everything is crazy and fun. The jokes are clever. There's hardly anything new about the film but it's still good.

It's just great to see another stop-motion clay animated film from Aardman in the big screen, but this time it's in 3D. The 3D is pretty good, but even in 2D the film is still wonderful to watch. These kinds of family films are rare these days. While kids these days like movies with talking animals and some other mediocre stuff, this one uses the ludicrous elements in a smart way. Like I said, it's not new but it's still an exciting and enjoyable film.

Cute Movie with many clever moments however, is my least favorite of all the splendid spectacles given to us by Aardman Animations. Band Of Misfits drags in several bits and the ending is very hand-wavy, one of those movies that had a lot of promise but was kind of a let-down. The first thirty minutes really had me going and I loved the whole Charles Darwin plot line; but the end was rushed and made very little sense.

Perhaps the only reason I am so critical of what most people would consider a good kids movie, is because I know that the creative team at Aardman animations can and have done much better.

If you haven't already run (don't walk) to your local Blockbusters and find either Wallace and Grommit or Chicken Run. Trust me you won't regret it.

I'm still confused about why stop action films are being made. With the advancements of the past two decades in animation, stop action films are utterly outdated. Still, mostly due to foreign movie-goers, this movie will make a good profit. I guess that is all that matters. When it comes down to it, this type of films gives filmmakers another type of medium to present their work. For a movie that is quite difficult and time-consuming to make, I wish the script had been better. The Pirates wasn't bad. It was simply lackluster.

Children's films of the past two decades have stumbled across a key to being fantastic. With movies like Shrek and Wall-E, filmmakers have come to realize you need to make the movie enjoyable for adults and children. It is obvious that the makers of The Pirates tried to do this…and even more obvious that they had no idea how to do it. They added in dialogue about sexuality and alcohol with words that no child would understand. That is pretty much the only way that the filmmakers try to entertain the adult audience.

Luckily, this movie will be entertaining for most children. The pirates' genre has been dried up in recent years. Many parts of this storyline are not unique simple because they are working with the same genre as so many other films. On several other levels, The Pirates is quite unique. The whole premise of "Pirate of the Year" as well as the entire conclusion was enjoyable and unlike anything I have seen. Still, I am disappointed that more wasn't provided for the adult audience.

The Pirates contains the character of Charles Darwin. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this was the movie's attempt at intriguing the older viewers. As the movie progresses, however, it becomes apparent that the character was added simply because they wanted to add a historical character. The movie presents him as a loner scientist who can't get a girlfriend. It doesn't work. In the end, all the effort of this movie was made for the younger viewers.

This movie is worth seeing for viewers who are 9-10 or younger. Any older and the preteen will think it is a lame kid's movie (which it is). However, if you have a kid in that range, I bet they will like it. The action is entertaining enough and the movie is short enough to hold their attention throughout. Unfortunately, the creator's lack of caring about the older audience means this will be a long 90 minutes for most parents. If you want to enjoy yourself while giving your kid a good time, go see Chimpanzee instead.

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The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a terrific movie with a very well developed storyline and a stellar voice cast. It's a very enjoyable film for the whole family, the animation is stunning, seeing Aardman with their first claymation movie since Wallace & Gromit, they've had great success with work such as Arthur Christmas and Flushed Away, but the computer animation takes away from the magic of these movies, thankfully the characters are entirely made from clay here, with an outstanding voice cast to match, including Hugh Grant in one of my favourite roles he's ever had. One thing I think the movie is really lacking is depth, there isn't enough of a relationship evident between The Pirate Captain and his crew, particularly Number 2, I felt a friendship between these characters should have been shown, it would have added an extra layer to the pirates that I think definitely could have worked. It's a very funny movie, it had me in stitches many times, whether it be some of the ridiculous jokes about Charles Darwin, the female pirate, or a joke about leprosy, it has enough humour that will please both kids and adults, more so than any other Aardman movie I feel, particularly the main character will probably speak to an older audience more so than children. Beautifully animated, a fantastic voice cast and very likable characters, I would recommend The Pirates! Band of Misfits to anyone looking for a good family film.

The Pirate Captain sets out to defeat his rivals for the Pirate of the Year award.

This is great fun from Aardman, the team behind 'Wallace and Gromit', 'Chicken Run' etc.

With some brilliant gags and some nice vocal performances from Hugh Grant and David Tennant, this is top notch family entertainment.

Well worth watching.

I've always loved Aardman films especially Wallace & Gromit but this has let the reputation of Aardman down.

The film is more average than good. The story is standard but can be a bit funny sometimes. The characters are all interesting enough but it still doesn't work as well as expected. For children I think this film will be received well; it's a decent enough film for kids but the thing that makes Aardman films really excellent is that it can make both children and their parents laugh, this does not do that.

The animation is, as always, fantastic. A lot of work has clearly went into this but I wonder if they have used different animators from other films because at some points the characters looked more like something out of a Tim Burton picture or from the makers of 'Coraline'.

It's difficult to comment on the performances in this because it's voice performances. However, all of them do very well and have sometimes adapted their voices to suit the characters perfectly especially Hugh Grant and David Tennant.

Overall, kids will love this film but it's disappointed me slightly simply because my expectations were based on previous Aardman productions. Hopefully their next will improve from this.