The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

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 (co-director)

Writers:

Gideon Defoe (book), Gideon Defoe (screenplay)

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 19 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)
Anton Yelchin	...	The Albino Pirate (voice)
Brendan Gleeson	...	The Pirate with Gout (voice)
Ashley Jensen	...	The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (voice)
Al Roker	...	The Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (voice)
Ben Whitehead	...	The Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (voice)
Mike Cooper	...	Admiral Collingwood (voice)

Storyline

Always outclassed by fierce opponents such as Cutlass Liz, Peg Leg Hastings, and Black Bellamy, the hopeless, Pirate Captain, decides it's high time he won the prestigious 1837 "Pirate of the Year Award". However, this is easier said than done, as the determined captain embarks on a foolhardy quest along with his ragtag crew of misfits which involves Queen Victoria herself, an extremely rare dodo bird, and a brilliant young scientist named Charles Darwin. Will Pirate Captain manage to pull off a surprise victory?

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Plot Keywords:

queen victoria character | swashbuckler | post credits scene | chimpanzee | pirate | 

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Taglines:

Laugh your booty off

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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

Filming Locations:

Aardman Animation Studios, Bradley Stoke, Bristol, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,137,734, 29 April 2012, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$31,051,126

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$123,054,041

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peg Leg Hastings' line "lock up your daughters" when he enters the pirate pub is a reference to the Slade song with the same title.

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Goofs

Queen Victoria's look for this movie is older and even her voice actor Imelda Staunton was 56 years old by 2012, however in 1837 Queen Victoria was 18 years old in the time of her reign.

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Quotes

[first lines]
servant: Admiral Collingwood!
Queen Victoria: Well, Admiral
Admiral Collingwood: Great news, Your Majesty! The French are defeated at last. Also the Russians, the Portuguese, the Chinese, and the Welsh.

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Crazy Credits

No dodos were made extinct during the making of this motion picture.

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Alternate Versions

For the US release, Anton Yelchin replaced Russell Tovey as the voice of the Albino Pirate, and Al Roker replaced Ben Whitehead as the voice of the Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Train to Skaville
Written by Leonard Winston Dillon
Performed by The Ethiopians
Courtesy of Trojan Records/Sanctuary Records Group Ltd.
Under licence from Universal Music Operations Ltd.

User Reviews

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (2012)

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists is the latest film from Aardman animations. It mixes mostly stopmotion with some CGI backgrounds. The film sees The Pirate Captain looking to win Pirate of the Year Award, only problem is him and his band of misfits are the most useless pirates around. After bumping into Charles Darwin, he identifies their 'parrot' as a dodo and promises them riches back in London. Pirates has a very quaint sense of humour, with jokes that elicit gentle chuckles rather than full blown belly laughs. The jokes range from plays on words, to daft sight gags. The animation is typical Aardman and lends itself surprisingly well to the action genre. The vocal work is wonderful with Gleeson and Tovey being particular standouts. I wasn't really impressed by the use of modern songs, as they often seemed very obvious (London Calling) or just out of place (Flight of the Conchords). The story seems a bit mixed in terms of both pacing and plotting, which makes sense as it was based on two books. I would suggest watching the original British version as some actors have had their lines dubbed over, and some of the 'ruder' jokes have been changed.