The Pirates! Band of Misfits

A young Charles Darwin shows up to a fancy dinner party with an unusual guest—a monkey named Mr. Bobo, clad in a tuxedo and handling the food and drink just like a human. Since he hasn't yet written On the Origin of Species, Darwin thinks nothing of it. But another guest—a buccaneer known simply as Pirate Captain—notices that Chuck (as he calls him) and Bobo share some mannerisms. "Are the two of you related?" he asks, and a comedic flash of revelation crosses Darwin's face. And thus the notion of evolution is born.

A few hours earlier, Pirate Captain and his band of plunderers arrived in London for a science convention, figuring a partnership with Darwin to be their ticket to some major booty. They know full well that pirates who show up in Queen Victoria's city seldom live to tell about it, so the (almost) entirely male pirate crew shows up with a well-planned disguise—as a troop of girl scouts.

Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant)

These are very brief moments in a film that rolls along at a crisp pace. One is even tempted to call them throwaway gags—if any comedy bit so perfectly orchestrated could be a throwaway. Yet, I suspect your enjoyment of The Pirates! Band of Misfits can be gauged by your appreciation of this kind of humor, which animates the entire film—always very smart, generally very silly.

Pirates is the latest film from Aardman, the studio that brought us Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit (both the TV specials and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit movie). Pirates shares with those a very dry and very British sense of humor and cleverness. Aardman takes a while between feature films, partly due to their painstaking stop-motion animation process, but perhaps also because facilitating this kind of brainy/loony comedy takes time.

The movie is based on a series of British comedy books by Gideon Defoe, and it is, of course, not the first pirates-themed movie to hit the big screen in recent years. Even so, the film is really rather original; certainly, this brand of humor is rare on American shores, and I don't recall ever seeing it in a pirate-themed context.

Chuck Darwin (David Tennant) joins the Captain on a voyage

The story hinges on Pirate Captain's own ambitions and insecurities. He'd like to fancy himself a great plunderer, the scourge of the seven seas, but he's really a bit of a softy. (On his list of the best things about pirating, running people through with a sword takes honorable-mention status to "Ham Nite.") So he sets out to prove to himself, and to the world, that he's the most villainous pirate there is, entering into the storied Pirate of the Year Awards.

His plan very quickly veers off on a strange path. After attempting to plunder from a leper boat, a kids' field trip boat, and a, er, ghost ship, he lands on Chuck Darwin's scientific vessel. After a brief misunderstanding with some baboon kidneys, Pirate Captain realizes that Darwin's scientific know-how could be his ticket to all the loot he needs to win the contest. So: On with the girl scout uniforms, and off to London for the science convention.

Clearly, it's all pretty silly—and pretty inspired. That's what makes the movie such a pleasure. At times its zaniness reaches Loony Toon levels, but no matter how cartoony it gets, the characters are still compelling. You actually want Pirate Captain to pull it off, and it rattles you a bit when things don't go his way. What's more, the humor never stops being smart, even when it gets silly, with musical jokes (listen for "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and "London Calling"), historical jokes (in addition to Darwin, Jane Austen also shows up), science jokes, visual jokes, and wordplay aplenty.

Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) keeps the Captain at bay

The only downside is that it might be a bit too brainy for some kids. With its PG rating (mostly for action) and complete refusal to dumb things down or play by the conventional rules of kids' movies, Pirates is probably geared more toward slightly older kids—and their parents. It's a movie not unlike, say, Rango in that regard. (And it's worth noting that the references to Darwinian evolution are played only for humor; there's no agenda being pushed.)

Pirates is sure to delight many grown-ups and older kids, and to become a surprising favorite among many families. It's genuinely smart and engaging.

Talk About It

1. What do you think are the Captain's true motivations for entering the Pirate of the Year contest?
2. Do you think the Captain is a good leader? Why or why not? Do you think his fellow pirates are good friends to him? Why or why not?
3. What attitude does the movie seem to take toward science?

The Family Corner

The Pirates! is rated PG for action, some language, and rude humor. The language consists of one dirty word, though it's difficult to tell whether they're saying "arse" or the American equivalent. The rude humor consists of a few references to "scantily clad mermaids" and the like, but it's never anything more suggestive than that.

Photos © Aardman Animations

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