The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Peter Lord, 2012) Review

Still on the run up towards my top 10 films of the year list...which is probably going to be up in the first half of Februrary (around the 10th) so I'm watching as many films from 2012 I can. I this is one of those films. I haven't really talked about Aardman yet so all I can say is...their stop frame is amazing and I was curious how they would tackle a film with a large scale. Their previous works have been in very small locations so let's look at a huuuuge film...in terms of scale...eh whatever.

In 1837, pirates take part in a Pirate of the Year competition based on how much 'booty' the pirate has. The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) and his crew end up boarding the ship of Charles Darwin (David Tennant) when looking for booty but Darwin notices that the Pirate Captian's parrot isn't a parrot at all...it's the last living Dodo. Darwin manages to convince the Pirate Captain to visit London to present the dodo, Polly to Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and win the Scientist of the Year award and use the prize to win the Pirate of the Year award as well.

Likeability is the key to this film. The characters are well written and the casting works surprisingly well. I really couldn't see Hugh Grant voice The Pirate Captain however, despite not putting on a pirate voice, he works really well. Same goes for David Tennant as Charles Darwin. Martin Freeman is being...Martin Freeman but that's fine by me! May I also say, this film looks incredible. The stop frame is flawless, the sets and backgrounds are awe-inspiring and the action is really well done. I sure this took longer to take than any other Aardman project and I can safely that it was worth it.

Why does it say 'U' on my DVD. How the hell did this get a 'U' rating? I've never watched an animated film that was I thought was aimed at kids (not FOR kids but just aimed at them) use words such as "arse" and "crap". It was pretty shocking actually. Hell, most of the humour comes from adult humour. If anything, this was made for adults. That's Aardman for you...and I love it.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! was a very nice surprise and I am so glad I didn't miss this film. Honestly, if it kept the same cast, I would gladly want to see more from the Pirates rather than Wallace and Gromit. To me, they're more enjoyable. Aardman is back in the game I and welcome them back with open arms. Also, watch this film several times. You will keep seeing things you didn't notice before. Genius film, really.

Verdict:
8.5/10
A hilarious, likeable, well made animated film. This film looks REALLY good and that mixed with the great cast and writers makes for one of Aardman's best.

Still...it was given the wrong age rating...