The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)
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A crew of amateur pirates must navigate a bizarre competition involving a dodo and the Royal Society of London.
The story
In 1837 London, the Royal Navy struggles against pirates while the Pirate Captain enters Blood Island's annual Pirate of the Year competition. After failing to plunder ships, the Captain and his crew capture Charles Darwin and his chimpanzee, Mr. Bobo. Recognizing the crew's dodo, Polly, as a rare species, Darwin suggests they enter her in the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London. Assuming the prize is money, the Captain agrees to pose as a scientist. The pirates enter the competition, where the dodo display wins them a meeting with Queen Victoria, leading to a series of complications regarding the dodo's fate.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1837 London, the Pirate Captain enters the Pirate of the Year competition on Blood Island. After capturing Charles Darwin and his chimpanzee, Mr. Bobo, the Captain agrees to enter Darwin's dodo, Polly, into the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London to win money. The dodo wins, but the prize is a meeting with Queen Victoria. When Victoria asks for Polly, the Captain's identity is revealed, and he is nearly executed until Darwin convinces her that Polly is hidden. After a series of kidnappings and a tavern brawl, the Captain is pardoned but loses his eligibility for the Pirate of the Year award due to his new status. He is exiled from Blood Island and abandoned by his crew. He later reunites with Darwin and Bobo, who have become tramps. They discover Victoria intends to eat Polly as part of a secret club of world leaders. The Captain and Darwin steal an airship to rescue Polly from Victoria's flagship, the QV1. During a confrontation, an explosion breaks the ship in half. Polly attacks Victoria, the Captain rescues her, and the pirates escape. Victoria revokes the Captain's pardon, while Charles is taken to an island to discover new species and Bellamy loses his award.
- Original title
- The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
- First release year
- 2012
- Runtime (minutes)
- 88
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Peter Lord
- Writers
- Gideon Defoe · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Hugh Grant · the Pirate Captain; David Tennant · Charles Darwin; Imelda Staunton · Queen Victoria; Martin Freeman · the Pirate with a Scarf, alias Number Two; Jeremy Piven · Black Bellamy; Salma Hayek · Cutlass Liz; Lenny Henry · Peg-Leg Hastings; Brian Blessed · the Pirate King
- Genres
- stop-motion animated; swashbuckler comedy; children's comedy; historical comedy; action comedy; adventure comedy; fantasy adventure
- Themes
- Evolution; Identity; Friendship; Adventure
- Tone and mood
- Comedic; Whimsical; Swashbuckling
- Setting
- London and Blood Island in 1837
- Premise and plot tags
- Pirates; Scientists; Dodo; Queen Victoria; Charles Darwin; Stop-motion
- Source material / true-story basis
- A 2004 novel by Gideon Defoe
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews and was noted for being some of the smartest, most skillfully animated fare in modern cinema, though it received the lowest score of any Aardman production on CinemaScore.
- Reported review scores
- CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Animated Feature · Nominated
- Production trivia
- Aardman replaced a 'leper boat' joke with a 'plague boat' due to community feedback.; The film is the fourth highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time as of 2017.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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