Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.
It would take multiple viewings to drink it all in, but The Pirates! more than justifies it. I’d gladly pay to watch it again and again.
Quibbles aside, climb aboard and set sail for an amusing (if not quite amazing) adventure.
Though we’d love to see how Aardman handle Defoe’s followup, An Adventure With Communists, this amiable but overstretched diversion is unlikely to spawn a Caribbean franchise.
Congenial and unpretentious, the storytelling could be tangier, but it isn’t a bad bet for kids. Alas, it is being released in 3D, currently the film industry’s preferred method of high seas robbery.
The Pirates! no doubt will play well to the whole family and with such enchanting visuals and astonishing attention to detail there’s still much to treasure here.
Another Aardman triumph. The animation house’s most technically ambitious project so far and, if not quite at the genius level of Wallace & Gromit, still a comedy treasure and far too good just for kids.
This is a quintessential Aardman production that’s as hopelessly endearing as the Pirate Captain himself: well out-of-sync with the mainstream and quite bonkers.
Slick, sharp, funny and thrilling. Pirates! is never less than tremendous fun – but never quite a masterpiece.
Lots of gorgeous Aardman detail to feast on, lashings of smile-worthy moments, but a tad short on big laughs.
After 30 minutes you start to hanker for Wallace and Gromit.
Reluctant mismatched buddy shenanigans duly follow, but a satisfying story fails to fully evolve.
The film is bursting with fun and packed with gags, often of the incidental, visual kind.
Not terrible: but certainly a bore.
You hardly know what loopy turn the film will take next: all that's certain is that it will dazzle the eye, and plaster a smile on your face.
Chuckles and smiles rather than plank-walking belly laughs are the order of the day.
There's treasure buried in its every frame.
If you throw in some trademark Aardman chases (the best involving Darwin and his monkey manservant Bobo), gorgeous 3D animation (the pirates' claymation boat riding computer-animated seas) and a soundtrack that includes The Clash and The Pogues, you have something close to a perfect family package.
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General release. Check local listings for show times.
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