The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
"The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!" (original title)

Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.

Directors:

Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt

Writers:

Gideon Defoe (book), Gideon Defoe (screenplay)

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Jeremy Piven

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Grant	...	The Pirate Captain (voice)
Martin Freeman	...	The Pirate with a Scarf (voice)
Imelda Staunton	...	Queen Victoria (voice)
David Tennant	...	Charles Darwin (voice)
Jeremy Piven	...	Black Bellamy (voice)
Salma Hayek	...	Cutlass Liz (voice)
Lenny Henry	...	Peg Leg Hastings (voice)
Brian Blessed	...	The Pirate King (voice)
Russell Tovey	...	The Albino Pirate (voice)
Brendan Gleeson	...	The Pirate with Gout (voice)
Anton Yelchin	...	The Albino Pirate (voice)
Ashley Jensen	...	The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (voice)
Ben Whitehead	...	The Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (voice)
Mike Cooper	...	Admiral Collingwood (voice)
Al Roker	...	The Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (voice)

Storyline

After years of humiliation and failed attempts to win the coveted Pirate of the Year Award, Pirate Captain and his oddball crew take on the cream of the pirating crop - Black Bellamy, Peg Leg Hastings and Cutlass Liz - in a race to pillage the most booty. They soon cross paths with lovelorn scientist Charles Darwin, who persuades the Captain that the crew's prized 'parrot', Polly, could be the answer to the 'untold riches' they are searching for. Their adventure takes them to Victorian London where they meet Darwin's sidekick 'man-panzee' Mister Bobo, and the notorious pirate-hating Queen Victoria herself. It soon unfolds that Darwin's motives for helping the crew are not what they seem, and the Queen has an evil hidden agenda of her own. The Pirate Captain must choose between basking in the glory of being crowned Pirate of the Year, or staying faithful to his trusted crew.

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Plot Keywords:

pirate | cutlass | scientist | charles darwin | queen victoria | 

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Taglines:

Join the crew and kick some booty.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild action, rude humor and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Pirates! Band of Misfits in 3D

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$11,137,734 (USA) (27 April 2012)

Gross:

$31,051,126 (USA) (3 August 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In real life, Charles Darwin was a member of the Gourmet or Glutton society which involved eating, not necessarily endangered, but unusual animals such as parakeets and owls.

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Goofs

The pirates' ship heads to London and stops in Calais for some duty-free shopping. Calais is misplaced on the map. It should be far up north, above the word "Flanders"

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Quotes

[from trailer]
Pirate Captain: Avast! I'm a pirate captain, and I'm here for your gold!
Sailor: Gold? Afraid we don't have any gold, old man. This is a leper boat.
[his arm falls off]
Sailor: See?

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Crazy Credits

Throughout the credits many of the props and posters that appear in the background are displayed, giving the audience a chance to spot some of the subtle jokes and puns they may have missed in the film.

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Connections

Followed by So You Want to Be a Pirate! (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 3"
Written by Richard Strauss

User Reviews

A Delightful Aardman departure from Wallace and Gromit

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

SEE THIS MOVIE