Pirates! Band of Misfits
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''The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!'' (released in North America, Australia and New Zealand as ''The Pirates! Band of Misfits'') is a 2012 3D
stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
animated swashbuckler comedy film produced by the British studio Aardman Animations and the American studio Sony Pictures Animation as their second and final collaborative project. Directed by Peter Lord, the film is based on the 2004 novel '' The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists'', the first book from
Gideon Defoe Gideon Defoe (born 26 December 1975) is a British writer and author of ''The Pirates!'', a series of comedy books following a group of pirates on their adventures. Bibliography *''The Pirates! series: ** '' The Pirates! in an Adventure with Sci ...
's '' The Pirates!'' series. It follows a crew of amateur pirates in their attempt to win the Pirate of the Year competition. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures and was released on 28 March 2012 in the United Kingdom, and on 27 April 2012 in the United States. ''The Pirates!'' features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman,
Imelda Staunton Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born 9 January 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre produ ...
, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Lenny Henry and Brian Blessed. ''The Pirates!'' is the fifth feature film by Aardman Animations, and its first stop-motion animated feature since '' Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'' in 2005, and Aardman's first stop-motion animated film released in 3D and shot in 2.35:1 widescreen. The film also served as the first stop-motion feature film released by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film received generally positive reviews, and was a modest box office success, earning $123 million against a budget as high as $55 million. The film was nominated for the 2013
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by- ...
, but lost to Pixar's ''
Brave Brave most commonly refers to: *Brave, an adjective for one who possesses courage *Braves (Native Americans), a EuroAmerican stereotype for Native American warriors Brave(s) or The Brave(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Brave'' (199 ...
''. It was the second film from Sony Pictures Animation to be nominated after '' Surf's Up''.


Plot

In London, 1837, Queen Victoria is told by her servants that England rules the entire ocean, with the exception of pirates, whom she despises. Meanwhile, The Pirate Captain leads an unorthodox group of amateur pirates who are trying to make a name for themselves on the high seas. To prove his worth, The Captain enters the annual Pirate of the Year competition, with the winner being whoever can plunder the most treasure. After several failed attempts to plunder mundane ships, they come across the '' HMS Beagle'' and capture its lone passenger, Charles Darwin, who recognizes the crew's pet "parrot", Polly, as the last living
dodo bird The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest genetic relative was the also-extinct Rodrigues solitaire. The t ...
. Darwin recommends that they enter Polly in the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London, and The Captain accepts, believing that winning the competition can help him win the Pirate of the Year award, despite his assistant, The Pirate with the scarf, advising him not to. Allowing The Pirate Captain and his crew to stay at his house for the night, Darwin plans to steal Polly for himself in order to impress Queen Victoria, whom he's smitten with. He has his trained chimpanzee Mr. Bobo steal Polly in a mysterious disguise, but the pirates give chase, which leads to Darwin's house being destroyed. The next day, the pirates disguise themselves as scientists to enter the competition, and the dodo display wins the top prize, which turns out to be a meeting with the Queen. The Queen requests that Polly be put in her petting zoo, but The Captain refuses and accidentally reveals his true identity. The Queen orders to have him executed, but Darwin intervenes, reminding the Queen that Polly has been hidden and only the Captain knows where. The Queen pardons the Captain of his crimes and orders Darwin to find Polly by any means necessary. Darwin and Mr. Bobo take the Captain to a tavern, get him intoxicated, and steal Polly, but The Captain chases them into the Tower of London, where the Queen is waiting. She gets rid of Darwin and Mr. Bobo for their incompetence via a trapdoor which leads to a dumpster, and offers The Captain enough treasure to ensure his win as Pirate of the Year in exchange for Polly. He accepts the offer and returns to his crew, telling them that he stole the treasure and assuring them Polly is still safe. At the Pirate of the Year ceremony, the Captain is announced as the winner, but rival pirate Black Bellamy finds a newspaper revealing the Queen's pardon and explains that if pardoned, one is no longer a pirate, and cannot be Pirate of the Year. The Captain is stripped of his treasure and pirate attire and admits to his crew that he sold Polly to the Queen for the treasure, prompting them to abandon him. The Captain returns to London and reunites with Darwin, who, while in the dumpster, found a brochure advertising a dining society of world leaders that feast on Endangered creatures, and Polly is to be served at their next banquet. Realizing that the Queen's a part of the society, The Captain and Darwin work together to steal an airship and find the Queen's flagship, the ''QV1'', while Mr. Bobo sets off to retrieve the disbanded crew members. Aboard the ''QV1'', The Captain and Darwin find Polly before she's cooked and eaten, but the Queen finds them and attempts to kill both of them. Mr. Bobo and the crew come to their aid, but while fighting the Queen, they accidentally mix the ship's stash of baking soda with vinegar, causing a violent reaction that explodes and breaks the ship in two. The queen tries to escape with Polly in the airship that the Captain and Darwin came on. Polly causes her to rip a hole in the airship and drop Polly, and the Captain catches her before she falls into the ship's propeller. The Captain, along with Darwin, Mr. Bobo and the rest of his crew, escape safely, leaving the furious Queen behind on her deflating airship. Due to their actions, the Captain was targeted with the highest bounty known to pirates, with 100,000 Doubloons placed by the Queen, restoring his pirate reputation as well as marking him as the most dangerous pirate alive. Darwin stays on an island to study more exotic animals, and The Pirate Captain continues his exploits with his crew, now joined by Mr. Bobo.


Voice cast


Production

Unlike Aardman's '' Flushed Away'', which was computer animated in the style of claymation, Aardman extensively used computer graphics to complement and enrich the primarily stop-motion film with visual elements such as sea and scenery. Peter Lord commented, "With ''Pirates!'', I must say that the new technology has made ''Pirates!'' really liberating to make, easy to make because the fact that you can shoot a lot of green screen stuff, the fact that you can easily extend the sets with CGI, the fact that you can put the sea in there and a beautiful wooden boat that, frankly, would never sail in a million years, you can take that and put it into a beautiful CGI scene and believe it."


Naming

For the release in the United States, the film was retitled ''The Pirates! Band of Misfits'', as Defoe's books do not have "the same following outside of the United Kingdom", so it was not necessary to keep the original title. Hugh Grant, the voice of The Pirate Captain, said that the studio "didn't think the Americans would like the longer title". Response from the director of the film, Peter Lord, was that "some people reckoned the United Kingdom title wouldn't charm / amuse / work in the United States. Tricky to prove eh?"
Quentin Cooper Quentin Cooper (born 1961, Grimsby) is a science journalist and facilitator, who presented BBC Radio 4's '' Material World'' from 2000 to 2013. He speaks at science festivals and lectures, and works regularly with science and educational organ ...
of the BBC analysed the change of the title and listed several theories. One of them is that the British audience is more tolerant for the eccentricity of the British animators. Another is that the film makers did not want to challenge the United States viewers who do not accept the theory of evolution. He quoted science writer Jennifer Ouellette's 2010 statement at the
Science & Entertainment Exchange The Science & Entertainment Exchange is a program run and developed by the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to increase public awareness, knowledge, and understanding of science and advanced science technology through its represen ...
that scientists are undesirable in American popular culture, being represented as "the mad scientist or the dweeby nerd that dress funny, have no social skills, play video games, long for unattainable women".


Controversy

In January 2012, it was reported that the latest trailer of ''The Pirates!'' attracted some very negative reactions from the "leprosy community". In the trailer that was released in December 2011, The Pirate Captain lands on a ship demanding gold, but is told by a crew member, "Gold? Afraid we don't have any gold, old man. This is a leper boat!" His left arm then falls off, and he says "See?" Lepra Health in Action and some officials from the World Health Organization claimed that the joke depicted leprosy in a derogatory manner, and it "reinforces the misconceptions which leads to stigma and discrimination that prevents people from coming forward for treatment". They demanded an apology and removal of the offending scene, to which Aardman responded: "After reviewing the matter, we decided to change the scene out of respect and sensitivity for those who suffer from leprosy. The last thing anyone intended was to offend anyone..." LHA responded that it was "genuinely delighted that Aardman has decided to amend the film", while the trailer was expected to be pulled down from websites, and the final version of the film changes the line in question to "Gold? This is a ''
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
'' boat, old man! I'd give my right arm for some gold!" and when his left arm falls off, he adds "Or my left!"


Music

The film's score was composed by
Theodore Shapiro Theodore Michael Shapiro (born September 29, 1971) is an American composer best known for his film scores. He is a frequent collaborator of directors Ben Stiller, Paul Feig, Jay Roach, Karyn Kusama, and Rawson Marshall Thurber, and won the 2 ...
who made his animated feature score debut with this film. The score was released digitally by Madison Gate Records on 24 April 2012, and as a CD-R on-demand on 17 May 2012. The film also includes a number of previously released songs by various artists, including "
Swords of a Thousand Men "Swords of a Thousand Men" is a song and single written by Eddie Tenpole, and performed by the English punk band Tenpole Tudor. It was first released on Stiff Records in March 1981. It entered the UK Singles Chart in April that year, reaching num ...
" by Tenpole Tudor, "Ranking Full-Stop" by The Beat, "Fiesta" by The Pogues, " London Calling" by The Clash, " You Can Get It If You Really Want" by
Jimmy Cliff James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...
, "
Alright Alright, All Right or Allwright may refer to: Music Albums * ''Alright!'' (album), a 2007 album by Bogdan Raczynski * ''Alright'', a 2011 album by Jerry Williams * ''All Right'', a 1982 album by Himiko Kikuchi Songs * "Alright" (Cast song) * ...
" by
Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...
, and "I'm Not Crying" by Flight of the Conchords.


Release


Home media

''The Pirates!'' was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on 28 August 2012 in the United States, and on 10 September 2012 in the United Kingdom. The film is accompanied with an 18-minute short stop motion animated film called ''So You Want to Be a Pirate!'', where The Pirate Captain hosts his own talk show about being a true pirate. The short was also released on DVD on 13 August 2012, exclusively at Tesco stores in the United Kingdom. As a promotion for the release of ''The Pirates!'', Sony attached to every DVD and Blu-ray a code to download a '' LittleBigPlanet 2'' minipack of Sackboy clothing that represents 3 of the characters: The Pirate Captain, Cutlass Liz and Black Bellamy.


Reception


Box office

The film has grossed $123,054,041 worldwide. $26 million came from United Kingdom, $31 million from the United States and Canada, along with around $92 million from other territories, including the United Kingdom. As of 2017, it is the fourth highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time. In North America, it ranked fifth on its opening day, taking in $2,749,959, slightly higher than Arthur Christmas’ $2.4 million opening day. The film eventually made $11.1 million on its opening weekend and reaching second at the box office behind Think Like a Man while averaging $3,315 through its 3,358 theatre’s, on its second weekend, it dropped by 50.6%, ranking fourth with $5,502,482, then to seventh place with $3,143,442, dropping by 42.9%. In the United Kingdom, it opened to third with $3,486,095 behind The Hunger Games and Wrath of the Titans, averaging $6,443 through its 554 cinemas, it saw a 1.3% decline on its second weekend with $3,486,280, averaging $6,240 per cinema, and bringing the UK gross to $12,251,022.


Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has approval rating based on reviews; the average score is . The website's consensus reads, "It may not quite scale Aardman's customary delirious heights, but ''The Pirates!'' still represents some of the smartest, most skillfully animated fare that modern cinema has to offer." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 73 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".


Accolades


Cancelled sequel

By August 2011, Aardman had been already working on a sequel idea, and by June 2012, a story had been prepared, awaiting Sony to back the project. Eventually, Sony decided not to support the project due to insufficient international earnings. According to Lord, "it got close, but not quite close enough. I was all fired up for doing more. It was such fun to do! We actually have a poster for ''The Pirates! In an Adventure with Cowboys!''. That would have been just great."


References


External links

* – official site (US) * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists 2012 films 2012 3D films 2012 animated films 2012 action comedy films 2010s adventure comedy films 2010s American animated films 2010s children's comedy films 2010s historical comedy films Aardman Animations films American 3D films American action adventure films American action comedy films American adventure comedy films American children's animated action films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films American children's animated fantasy films American fantasy adventure films Advertising and marketing controversies in film Animation based on real people Film controversies Film controversies in the United Kingdom British 3D films British adventure comedy films British children's adventure films British children's animated films British children's comedy films British children's fantasy films British fantasy adventure films British historical comedy films Clay animation films Cultural depictions of Charles Darwin Cultural depictions of Queen Victoria on film Films set in 1837 Films set in London Pirate films British swashbuckler films American swashbuckler films 2010s stop-motion animated films Columbia Pictures animated films Columbia Pictures films Sony Pictures Animation films Films directed by Peter Lord Films scored by Theodore Shapiro 3D animated films 2012 directorial debut films The Pirates! 2010s English-language films 2010s British films