From the creators of “Chicken Run” comes another hilarious comedy for the entire family! If you are a parent looking for a fun family film for the summer or a fan of Aardman Animations films, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” is definitely recommended!
© 2012 Sony Pictures Animation Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: The Pirates! Band of Misfits
MOVIE RELEASE DATE: 2012
DURATION: 88 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital English, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG (For Mild Action, Rude Humor and Some Language)
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2012
Directed by Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt
Written by Gideo Defoe
Produced by Julie Lockhart, Peter Lord, David Sproxton
Executive Producer: Peter Lord, Carla Shalley, David Sproxton
Associate Producer: Susan Breen
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography by Charles Copping, Frank Passingham,
Edited by Justin Krish
Production Design by Norman Garwood
Art Direction by Sarah Hauldren, Phil Lewis, Matt Perry, Matt Sanders
Featuring the Voices of:
Hugh Grant as The Pirate Captain
Martin Freeman as The Pirate with a Scarf
Imelda Staunton as Queen Victoria
David Tennant as Charles Darwin
Jeremy Piven as Black Bellamy
Salma Hayek as Cutlass Liz
Lenny Henry as Peg Leg Hastings
Anton Yelchin as The Albino Pirate
Set sail for a fun-filled voyage and hilarious pirate antics with the biggest Band of Misfits on the seven seas! When the infamous Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) is shunned once again by his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz, he sets his sights to win the coveted Pirate of the Year Award! With his trusted dodo, Polly and rag-tag crew at his side, the Pirate Captain will need to battle a diabolical queen, save a young scientist and never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: Adventure!
From the creators of “Chicken Run” comes the British/American 3-D stop-motion animated comedy titled “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”.
Director Peter Lord (and co-founder of Aardman Productions), best known for animated films such as “Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and “Flushed Away”, co-directed the film with animator Jeff Newitt and is based on “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists”, the first book of “The Pirates!” series written by Gideo Defoe.
The film would feature voice talent by Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek and many more.
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” was released in theaters in April 2012 and budgeted at $55 million, the film earned over $118 million. And now the film will be released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and on DVD.
The film is set in 1837 and The Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) leads a group of amateur pirates and wants to make his name known around the pirate community. The problem is that everyone thinks the Pirate Captain is quite inept, but he is determined in entering “The Pirate of the Year” competition, a competition based on who can plunder the most.
While failing to plunder various ships, The Pirate Captain and crew go to plunder one last ship, The Beagle. And sure enough, they capture Charles Darwin.
But for Darwin, the encounter with the Pirate Captain is possibly a positive as he begins to eye on Polly, the pet of the Pirate Captain, because she may be the last living dodo. So, Darwin tries to get the Pirate Captain to enter Polly into the “Scientist of the Year” competition at the Royal Academy in London for a valuable prize.
More interested in the prize, the Pirate Captain and crew head off to London, despite being warned that Queen Victoria absolutely hates pirates. But Darwin will do anything to impress Queen Victoria, because he is smitten with her.
As for the Pirate Captain, wanting to gain recognition for being a pirate, will entering Polly and winning the “Scientist of the Year” lead to winning “Pirate of the Year”? The Pirate Captain hopes so! But how far will the Pirate Captain go in terms of accomplishing his dream?
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” is presented in 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen and in English, French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital plus English -Audio Description Track.   For those wanting the best quality of this film, you definitely want to go for the Blu-ray release as this film is gorgeous in HD. On DVD, it’s good and for children or those who don’t own a Blu-ray player, it’s best quality you can get on DVD in terms of video and audio quality.
First let me discuss the animation. The 3-D stop-motion in this film is well done. You can see the folds on the Pirate Captain’s hat. You can see the dust and marks under his boot. You can see the wear on the wooden panels of the ship and while these can be seen on DVD, bare in mind, you would get better clarity and see much more detail, as this film does have a lot of scenes that look breathtaking and just all-out awesome. The water effects in this film is also well-done.
And the soundtrack, great use of the surround channels, including LFE. Whether the action is in the ocean or the more action-intense sequences at the Queen’s palace, this film’s soundtrack is very good! For the most part, on DVD, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” looks and sounds very good but if you want awesome, definitely consider the Blu-ray release.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Commentary with Director Peter Lord, Co-Director Jeff Newitt and Editor Justin Krish (domestic version). A very informative audio commentary, especially the challenges of making certain scenes.
- So You Want To Be A Pirate? Short Film (domestic version) – (17:54) A short animated film featuring the Pirate Captain and the gang, showing how one can be a pirate.
- Mr. Bobo’s Flash Card Game – A game which utilizes your remote (or keyboard).
- Printable Activity Pages – Insert the DVD in your computer’s DVD-ROM drive to access printable pages.
A fun swashbuckling family film, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” will surely entertain your children and the young at heart!
As a fan of Peter Lord’s work, there is a certain animation style for Aardman Animations. The characters have their own distinct style and similar to how Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have this similar but distinct style for their animated films, the same can be said about Peter Lord and his company’s films (coincidentally, Aardman’s work has been featured at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, as Miyazaki is a big fan of Aardman Animations).
It’s just fun and hilarious to see these characters. And what’s more impressive is how much detail and how much things have gotten better with their animation since “Chicken Run”. The 3D animation is just breathtaking, the amount of detail that goes into showing the wear of objects on a ship, the boot of the Pirate Captain and just the scenery, especially the ocean…this film looks incredible!
And I have to admit that it does make proud to see animation coming from the UK. We see so much coming from the U.S., Japan, Korea, France and Italy, but Aardman Animations studio create films that I always look forward to.
For this film, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”, the premise may be banal. A protagonist who is inept and later becomes a hero.  But moving away from that, it’s the British humor that makes this film so wacky. From this unknown bird that the Pirate Captain has around his shoulder, where most pirates have parrots as pets, it just made me laugh because Polly is anything but a parrot.
Also, interesting is to see Mr. Bobo the monkey, a character that probably has more sense and maturity than the Pirate Captain himself. And of course, you have a wild cast of characters, especially Queen Victoria who is an intriguing antagonist for this film. And also music that just made me laugh because it was quite odd but it fits this film perfectly.
Also, the performances for this film was solid. Featuring voice acting from celebrities such as Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Martin Freeman, Jeremy Piven, Imelda Staunton and also Salma Hayek, their voice acting for this film was well-done. Hugh Grant was excellent as the Pirate Captain, Dr. Who star David Tennant was also great as Charles Darwin and “Harry Potter” actress Imelda Staunton was fantastic as Queen Victoria.
As for the DVD, it’s important to note that the Blu-ray release not only looks and sound better, it also comes with more special features. With that being said, for those who don’t own a Blu-ray player or just want to buy a film for the kids, the DVD still looks and sounds very good. And it does come with the mini-movie “So You Want to be a Pirate!” and also a flash card challenge featuring Mr. Bobo, printable coloring pages and a pretty cool audio commentary.
Overall, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” is a fun and hilarious 3-D stop-motion animated film from Aardman Animations and like other previous works which include “Chicken Run”, “Wallace and Gromit”, “Shaun the Sheep” to name a few, it’s British humor that is easily accessible for American viewers, especially children.
The film looks incredible and the amount of detail that went into this animation since Aardman’s previous films is quite noticeable and visually appealing. I was impressed!
If anything, one should not expect a “Wallace & Gromit” type of film. It’s not. This is not a violent animated film and the Pirate Captain is your unlikely hero, but that’s what makes “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” an entertaining family film.
If you are a parent looking for a fun family film for the summer or a fan of Aardman Animations films, “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” is definitely recommended!
