The Pirates: Band Of Misfits (2012) ***1/2 (out of 4 stars)
Remember this stop-motion animated film from earlier this year? Probably not, and given its meager US box office return and poor release timing (it came out the week before The Avengers did, making it arguable that the studio sent it out to die), chances are you haven't seen it. Well, I'm here to tell you that, much like a pirate's booty, I've found a gem of an animated film here that's well worth your attention and, if there's any justice in the world, this entertaining and heady mix of pirate lore satire and 19th century British history will get an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film, which it certainly deserves over some of the junky to semi-junky animated films from 2012 that became hits, like Brave and The Lorax.
I don't really want to go too much into a plot synopsis, because this is one of those movies that's really worth going into cold, that is, knowing as few specific details as possible (it's kind of like Midnight In Paris in that way, a comparison with which I may be saying too much already). All I'll say is that it's about a bizarre, but lovable band of pirates, lead by Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who desire to become the Pirates of the Year in the early 1800s. OK, so that sounds pretty standard, but trust me; this movie's anything but. It was directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt of Aardman Animation, the British stop-motion animation studio behind Wallace & Gromit, and they both were heavily involved in the Wallace and Gromit shorts in the 90s, the 2005 Wallace & Gromit film, Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (which was #10 on my 10 Best List that year) and Chicken Run.
That last film (another underrated gem worth seeking out) is particularly pertinent to understanding this one's creativity and intelligence as, just like you probably didn't expect Chicken Run to be a Stalag 17-esque WWII prison camp movie with chickens, you probably won't expect this to be anything more than some twee British animated picture. But, just like Chicken Run, The Pirates keeps entertaining and surprising you the deeper you get into it and, even for an Aardman fan like myself, I had no idea where this movie was going and, considering how many movies I see and how easily I can call some movies' trajectories lock step before they happen (cough, Toy Story 3), that's saying a lot.
The film has a brisk pace, clever touches all over the place, sharp writing, fun stop-motion animation and strong voice work, lots of it provided by various British heavyweights, including Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix and, ironically, Chicken Run), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire), Martin Freeman (Hot Fuzz, The Hobbit Volume 1) and, of course, Dr. Who himself, David Tennant.
Also, on top of everything else, it really lifted my spirits to see an animated film again where the people who made it completely committed to their unique vision and saw it all the way through, without compromising to make it easier for audiences to take and/or sell merchandise (Despicable Me, anyone?). That's a risky and admirable thing, when you think about it and that's what I love about Aardman and this movie because, despite the pirate connection, this film probably isn't going to appeal to everyone and it already hasn't, in a sense (perhaps people were burned on Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and wanted a break from quirky pirate films for a while, as that film's poor reception and comparatively low box office gross potentially signal).
But I say give it a shot; it's a really entertaining, ambitious and delightful film that's seemingly been forgotten a short 8 months after the fact, but deserves to be remembered alongside its strong Aardman film brethren Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit as an animated film that pushes animated films forward as an art form by charting its own path and going full speed ahead towards it.
