ABOUT FILMS BY YEAR MY 100 FAVORITES FEATURES HOME
About Films By Year My 100 Favorites Features

Seeking out the

5000 greatest films

in a century of cinema

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists
The Pirates! Band of Misfits


Directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt
Produced by Peter Lord, Julie Lockhart, and David Sproxton
Written by Gideon Defoe Based on the book by Gideon Defoe
With: Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Lenny Henry, Brian Blessed, Russell Tovey, Anton Yelchin, Brendan Gleeson, Ashley Jensen, Al Roker, Ben Whitehead, and Peter Lord
Cinematography: Frank Passingham
Editing: Justin Krish
Music: Theodore Shapiro
Runtime: 88 min
Release Date: 27 April 2012
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Color: Color

Aardman Entertainment’s first claymation feature film since 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit is rousing entertainment.   It tops all their previous features in humor and ability to sustain a feature-length running time. The film doesn’t quite have the old-fashioned charms of the previous, Nick Park directed films (Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit) but it has a modern, Pythonesque sensibility that works surprisingly better.  Normally in children’s films I don’t enjoy the fusing of modern, adult-oriented humor with the settings of ancient tales, and I like my claymation to be free of CGI enhancements, but this film is an exception.  The blending of CGI and old-school, hand-animated stop-motion is great to watch and the jokes, which fly fast and aim in all kinds of directions, are very funny. The plot and characters are engaging enough to please kids and adults, and the voice casting is first rate.

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