The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008)

Director:

Mike Nawrocki

Writer:

Phil Vischer (writer)

Release Date:

11 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Plot:

Three lazy misfits - very timid Elliot (Larry the Cucumber), lazy Sedgewick (Mr. Lunt) and no self-confident George (Pa Grape)...

Plot Keywords:

Veggietales

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Phil Vischer	...	George / Sedgewick / Willory / Sir Frederick / Mr. Hibbing / Bob the Tomato / Pirate Spy / Pirate Philippe Pea (voice)
Mike Nawrocki	...	Elliot / Pirate Jean Claude Pea / Theater Foe / Pirate Spy Sidekick / Pirate with Dummy / Rock Monster Father (voice)
Cam Clarke	...	Robert the Terrible / The King (voice)
Yuri Lowenthal	...	Alexander (voice)
Alan Lee	...	Blind Man / One-Eyed Louie (voice)
Cydney Trent	...	Bernadette (voice)
Megan Murphy	...	Madame Blueberry (voice)
Jim Poole	...	Pirate Scooter Carrot (voice)
Tim Hodge	...	Jolly Joe / King's Ship Officer (voice)
Ally Nawrocki	...	Lucy / Rock Monster Girl (voice)
Joe Spadaford	...	Jacob Lewis / Stubb Pirate Overboard / Stubb Pirate Coward (voice)
John Wahba	...	Dungeon Guard / Pirate with Dummy Sidekick (voice)
Colleen Curtis	...	Theater Customer Woman (voice)
Brian Roberts	...	Steadfast Soldier / Theater Customer Man / Pirate Pilot (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sondra Morton Chaffin	...	Caroline (voice)
Laura Gerow	...	Eloise (voice)
Patrick Kramer	...	Collin (voice)
Drake Lyle	...	George Jr. / Rock Monster Boy (voice)
Keri Pisapia	...	Ellen (voice)
Sloan Yarborough	...	Photographer (voice)

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:G

Company:

Big Idea Productions

Trivia:

Phil Vischer completed the script for this film in 2002 -- before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was released. But because of the bankruptcy and buyout of Big Idea Productions, the film wasn't able to start production until late 2005.

Quotes:

Willory: Like sands through the hour glass, so are the last few minutes of our lives.

Movie Connections:

References Edward Scissorhands (1990)

A Fair Effort But I'm Left Wondering If Veggie Tales Is Really Big Screen Material

I took my three year old daughter to the theatre to see this movie this afternoon. I've heard criticism of it for not having an explicit enough Christian theme - the Veggie Tales are, after all, a Christian outreach ministry to children. Some seem to think they've "crossed over." For those not familiar with that term, from a Christian point of view, a "cross over" is a Christian entertainer - usually a singer - who moves to the secular side of the entertainment world. Elvis Presley (from gospel singer to king of rock and roll) is probably the best known cross-over. The Veggie Tales crew probably left themselves open to that charge by doing an essentially secular Saturday cartoon for NBC. Having watched this movie, though, I think that particular criticism is unfair. It's true that Christian content isn't explicit in this movie, but it's certainly there. There are constant references to help from above; there's the king who tells the "heroes" that he'll always be with them; the same king looks out for widows and orphans; and there's the over-arching theme of the movie, which is that even little guys like Larry the Cucumber and Pa Grape can become big heroes, a la David and Goliath. So, if you get the analogies, you get the Christian content, much like C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.

It wasn't the content that was the problem here. The story is about 3 unlikely heroes somehow going back in time to help rescue a kidnapped princess. The title comes from a "Silly Song by Larry" in one of the VT videos. It's cute, a bit scary at times for wee ones and promotes good values. But the problem as I see it is that Veggie Tales was never intended for the big screen. The videos are fairly short and usually include 3 or 4 different items - stories, songs, etc. The movie essentially takes one theme and goes with it for about an hour and twenty minutes, which is probably too much for the audience of little kids that were present while I was there. I think this was a decent effort to bring the Veggie Tales sense of values to the movies, but I don't think I'd want them to do it again. 6/10