The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (released in North America, Australia and New Zealand as The Pirates! Band of Misfits) is a 2012 3D stop-motion animated swashbuckler comedy film produced by the British studio Aardman Animations and the American studio Sony Pictures Animation as their second and final collaborative project. Directed by Peter Lord, the film is based on the 2004 novel The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, the first book from Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! series.[7] It follows a crew of amateur pirates in their attempt to win the Pirate of the Year competition.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
In London, 1837, Queen Victoria is told by her servants that England rules the entire ocean, with the exception of pirates, whom she despises. Meanwhile, The Pirate Captain leads an unorthodox group of amateur pirates who are trying to make a name for themselves on the high seas. To prove his worth, The Captain enters the annual Pirate of the Year competition, with the winner being whoever can plunder the most treasure. After several failed attempts to plunder mundane ships, they come across the HMS Beagle and capture its lone passenger, Charles Darwin, who recognizes the crew's pet "parrot", Polly, as the last living dodo bird. Darwin recommends that they enter Polly in the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London, and The Captain accepts, believing that winning the competition can help him win the Pirate of the Year award, despite his assistant, The Pirate with the scarf, advising him not to. Allowing The Pirate Captain and his crew to stay at his house for the night, Darwin plans to steal Polly for himself in order to impress Queen Victoria, whom he's smitten with. He has his trained chimpanzee Mr. Bobo steal Polly in a mysterious disguise, but the pirates give chase, which leads to Darwin's house being destroyed.
The next day, the pirates disguise themselves as scientists to enter the competition, and the dodo display wins the top prize, which turns out to be a meeting with the Queen. The Queen requests that Polly be put in her petting zoo, but The Captain refuses and accidentally reveals his true identity. The Queen orders to have him executed, but Darwin intervenes, reminding the Queen that Polly has been hidden and only the Captain knows where. The Queen pardons the Captain of his crimes and orders Darwin to find Polly by any means necessary. Darwin and Mr. Bobo take the Captain to a tavern, get him intoxicated, and steal Polly, but The Captain chases them into the Tower of London, where the Queen is waiting. She gets rid of Darwin and Mr. Bobo for their incompetence via a trapdoor which leads to a dumpster, and offers The Captain enough treasure to ensure his win as Pirate of the Year in exchange for Polly. He accepts the offer and returns to his crew, telling them that he stole the treasure and assuring them Polly is still safe.
At the Pirate of the Year ceremony, the Captain is announced as the winner, but rival pirate Black Bellamy finds a newspaper revealing the Queen's pardon and explains that if pardoned, one is no longer a pirate, and cannot be Pirate of the Year. The Captain is stripped of his treasure and pirate attire and admits to his crew that he sold Polly to the Queen for the treasure, prompting them to abandon him. The Captain returns to London and reunites with Darwin, who, while in the dumpster, found a brochure advertising a dining society of world leaders that feast on Endangered creatures, and Polly is to be served at their next banquet. Realizing that the Queen's a part of the society, The Captain and Darwin work together to steal an airship and find the Queen's flagship, the QV1, while Mr. Bobo sets off to retrieve the disbanded crew members.
Aboard the QV1, The Captain and Darwin find Polly before she's cooked and eaten, but the Queen finds them and attempts to kill both of them. Mr. Bobo and the crew come to their aid, but while fighting the Queen, they accidentally mix the ship's stash of baking soda with vinegar, causing a violent reaction that explodes and breaks the ship in two. The Queen tries to escape with Polly in the airship that the Captain and Darwin came on. Polly causes her to rip a hole in the airship and drop Polly, and the Captain catches her before she falls into the ship's propeller. The Captain, along with Darwin, Mr. Bobo and the rest of his crew, escape safely, leaving the furious Queen behind on her deflating airship. Due to their actions, the Captain was targeted with the highest bounty known to pirates, with 100,000 Doubloons placed by the Queen, restoring his pirate reputation as well as marking him as the most dangerous pirate alive. Darwin stays on an island to study more exotic animals, and The Pirate Captain continues his exploits with his crew, now joined by Mr. Bobo.
Parents need to know that The Pirates! Band of Misfits isn't your typical pirate adventure, but there's still action, mild high-seas peril, a little bit of colorful language ("hell," etc.), and some parent-targeted jokes about the two historical characters depicted in the movie: Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin. Although the pirates use guns and swords and have hand-to-hand fights, they don't face any real danger until the climactic battle with the queen; before that, their enemies are schoolchildren, lepers, and ghosts. That said, the queen is quite menacing, and Darwin is greedy in his attempts to steal from the pirates. But the pirates themselves, rather than being bloodthirsty and selfish, are more like a family that sticks together, loot or no loot.
Every year, the Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) enters the prestigious Pirate of the Year contest and loses because his crew prefers to lie low and enjoy the simpler pleasure of "Ham Night" rather than engage in the bloody but profitable work of hardcore pirateering. When the contest's other contenders for 1837's title -- Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek), Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven), and Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry) -- poke fun at the Pirate Captain, he decides to embark on an aggressive campaign to take over other ships. But the plan is a failure ... until the captain storms the ship of Charles Darwin (David Tennant) and is told that his pet parrot is actually the thought-to-be-extinct Dodo bird. Darwin convinces the Pirate Captain and his crew to make landfall in London so the Dodo can win "untold riches" at an annual science conference. But what it really does is bring the pirates to the attention of the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), who has her own surprisingly nefarious reasons to want to keep the Dodo.
Fans of Aardman Studios' signature style of stop-motion clay animation (a la Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit), will find this movie absolutely delightful. It's a fun mix of swashbuckling pirate adventure, Charles Darwin biography, and twisted Victoriana lesson. This isn't the kind of Queen Victoria anyone has ever seen before; this one is young, angry, and ready to squash anyone who gets in her way -- especially those dirty, outdated pirates. Tennant's Darwin is particularly hilarious and Machiavellian (which perhaps is in keeping with the legendary naturalist's theories) in his quest to control the Dodo bird. But the real scene-stealer is Darwin's trained butler, a monkey called Mr. Bobo who communicates via a series of index cards. "Uh" and "oh," he holds up whenever danger is imminent.
Violence:Frequent fistfights break out. Characters are also stabbed, beaten, punched, threatened and hit with objects such as a kitchen pan and rolling pin. Other weapons include knives, swords, cannons, fish, a meat cleaver and barrels. A woman repeatedly rehearses her hatred of pirates. A ship crushes a smaller boat and the occupant. Blood is seen on her sword after a woman stabs a man in the back without provocation. Blood splatters also appear on an axe that is about to be used to behead a man. A character ransacks a room destroying scientific evidence and decapitating a stuffed monkey. A pirate ship fires on other boats. A man discusses using babies as bait. Characters are hit in the face with pies. Others plan to eat endangered animals (the beasts are seen chained up in the kitchen).
In 1837, the Pirate Captain, inexpert in the ways of pirates, leads a close-knit, rag-tag group of amateur pirates who are trying to make a name for themselves on the high seas. To prove himself and his crew, the Pirate Captain enters the Pirate of the Year competition, with the winner being whoever can plunder the most. After several failed attempts to plunder mundane ships, they come across the Beagle and capture its passenger Charles Darwin. Darwin recognises the crew's pet Polly as the last living dodo, and recommends they enter it in the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London for a valuable prize. Secretly, Darwin plans on stealing Polly himself with the help of his trained chimpanzee, Mr. Bobo, as to impress Queen Victoria whom he has a crush on; the Pirate with a Scarf becomes suspicious of Darwin's motive after one failed attempt to steal Polly.
The pirates disguise themselves as scientists to enter the competition, and the dodo display wins the top prize, which turns out to be minuscule trinkets and a meeting with the Queen. The Pirate Captain hides Polly before the meeting. There, the Queen requests that the Pirate Captain donate Polly for her petting zoo. The Pirate Captain refuses and accidentally reveals his true self. Now knowing on who he is, an enraged Queen Victoria immediately sentenced him to death. Just as the Pirate Captain was about to be executed, Darwin steps in to spare his life, secretly telling the Queen that only the Captain knows where Polly is kept. In response, the Queen pardons the Pirate Captain and orders Darwin to find Polly by any means necessary. Darwin takes the Pirate Captain to a tavern and coaxes out of him that Polly is stashed in his beard. Darwin and Mr. Bobo are able to steal the bird, leading on a chase into the Tower of London where the Queen is waiting. She dismisses Darwin, and instead offers the Pirate Captain a large sum of treasure from her royal treasury in exchange for Polly, which for the Pirate Captain would be enough to assure his win as Pirate of the Year. He accepts the offer and returns to his crew, assuring them Polly is still safe in his beard, though the Pirate with a Scarf is suspicious of his newfound wealth. 041b061a72
