The Pirates! Band of Misfits

As with last year's Chico and Rita and A Cat in Paris, I've been pleasantly surprised by viewing a film solely because it was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar. This year it is for The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which is a delightful, droll film from Aardman Studios.

The film was directed by Peter Lord, who made Chicken Run. It should be enjoyed by anyone who enjoyed that film, or the Wallace and Gromit films, though Nick Park is not involved. It is very British, and though children will enjoy the action and silliness, adults such as myself will marvel at the witty dialogue and the numerous funny details.

The story concerns a small band of pirates who are led by the Pirate Captain (none of his band have names, but simply a description--the girl masquerading as a man is known as the Suspiciously Curvaceous Pirate). The Pirate Captain is a bungler, but desperately wants to win the Pirate of the Year contest. In comparison to other pirates, though, he's comically lacking.

While trying to raise his booty total, he attacks the Beagle and finds Charles Darwin. Though Darwin has no gold, he points out to the Captain that the bird on his shoulder is not a parrot, but a dodo, which has been extinct for centuries. Darwin tells him that they can surely win the Scientist of the Year contest, which will earn riches. The only catch is that the contest is in London, and Queen Victoria hates pirates (her crest is "I Hate Pirates").

There's so much to enjoy here, whether it's turning Victoria into a bad-ass villain, or the little one-liners, like "London smells like grandma."What's the best thing about being a pirate? Why, Ham Night, of course. Did you know that Charles Darwin had troubles with the ladies, and secretly pined for Victoria? Or that he had a man-panzee named Bobo, who used signs to communicate?

Based on a popular British series of books, the film certainly is helped by the revival of pirates stemming from The Pirates of the Caribbean series. Like that film, The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a meta-look at that world, with nobody really getting hurt. The voice actors are mostly British actors such as Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, and Imelda Staunton. I think Freeman, who voices the Captain's loyal "Number two," said it best: "Just by adding an 'arrr' at the end of a sentence doesn't make everything all right."