The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Plot

In 1837 London, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood tells Queen Victoria that the Royal Navy has defeated France, Russia, Portugal, China, and Wales. She assumes that the Royal Navy now dominates the world's oceans, but Admiral Collingwood tells her that the Royal Navy is still dealing with pirates, who she hates. She demands him to have them killed.

The Pirate Captain, who leads a quirky crew of amateur pirates, enters the annual Pirate of the Year competition, where the winner is determined by who can steal the most treasure. After several attempts to raid ships that do not have any treasure, they raid the HMS Beagle and capture Charles Darwin. Recognizing the crew's Dodo, Polly, who they think is a parrot, as the only living dodo remaining, Charles recommends that they enter her in the Scientist of the Year competition at the Royal Society of London. Thinking that the prize is money, the Pirate Captain agrees.

Allowing the Pirate Captain and his crew to stay at his house for the night, Charles tries to kidnap Polly with the help of his chimpanzee, Mr. Bobo, but fails. The next day, the pirates enter the competition while disguised as scientists. The dodo display wins the competition. However, instead of money, the prize turns out to be a tiny trophy, encyclopedias, and a meeting with Queen Victoria. She requests that Polly be put in her petting zoo, but the Pirate Captain refuses and accidentally reveals his true identity. When he is about to be decapitated, Charles informs Queen Victoria that Polly has been hidden and only the Pirate Captain knows where. She pardons the Pirate Captain and orders Charles to find Polly by any means necessary.

Charles and Mr. Bobo get the Pirate Captain intoxicated at a tavern and attempt to kidnap Polly. The Pirate Captain chases them into the Tower of London, where Queen Victoria awaits. After she sends Charles and Mr. Bobo down a trapdoor into a garbage dump, she offers the Pirate Captain enough treasure to win Pirate of the Year in exchange for Polly. He accepts the offer and returns to his crew. At the Pirate of the Year ceremony, he is announced as the winner, but his rival, Black Bellamy, reveals Queen Victoria's pardon. Black Bellamy explains that being pardoned means that he is no longer a pirate. As a result, he is confiscated of his treasure and pirate attire and exiled from the home of all pirates, Blood Island. When he reveals to his crew that he gave Polly away, they abandon him.

The Pirate Captain tries to make a living knitting and selling baby clothes in London before deciding to rescue Polly. However, he discovers that she is not in at the petting zoo. He reunites with Charles and Mr. Bobo, who have become tramps. Charles reveals that Queen Victoria did not want Polly for the petting zoo and he has discovered what she actually wanted Polly for. After he and Mr. Bobo landed in the dump, he learned that she is part of a club of world leaders who dine on endangered animals aboard her flagship, the QV1. Polly is the main course at their next banquet.

The Pirate Captain and Charles steal an airship and locate the QV1, while Mr. Bobo goes to look for the crew. Aboard the QV1, the Pirate Captain and Charles find Polly, but are confronted by Queen Victoria. Mr. Bobo and the crew come to their rescue, but while fighting Queen Victoria, they accidentally combine a stash of baking soda with vinegar, causing an explosion that breaks the QV1 in two. Queen Victoria attempts to flee with Polly in the airship, but Polly fights back, causing Queen Victoria to drop her. The Pirate Captain catches her and the pirates escape.

Charles is taken to an island to continue discovering new animal species, while Queen Victoria becomes in danger of being eaten by the animals that she captured. The Pirate Captain is no longer pardoned and becomes the most wanted and dangerous pirate in the world. As a result, he is reinstated as a pirate and his exile on Blood Island is lifted. He continues adventuring with his crew, now accompanied by Mr. Bobo.

Voice cast

• Hugh Grant as the Pirate Captain
• Martin Freeman as the Pirate with a Scarf/Number Two
• Imelda Staunton as Queen Victoria
• David Tennant as Charles Darwin
• Jeremy Piven as Black Bellamy
• Salma Hayek as Cutlass Liz
• Lenny Henry as Peg-Leg Hastings
• Brian Blessed as Pirate King
• Russell Tovey as Albino Pirate (United Kingdom)
  • Anton Yelchin as Albino Pirate (United States)
• Brendan Gleeson as Pirate with Gout
• Ashley Jensen as Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate
• Ben Whitehead as Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (United Kingdom)
  • Al Roker as Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens (United States)
• Mike Cooper as Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood
• David Schneider as Scarlett Morgan Additional voices by Tom Doggart, Sophie Jerrold, Sophie Laughton, Kayvan Novak, David Schaal and director Peter Lord.

Production

Aardman Animations, who primarily use stop-motion animation, extensively used computer graphics to complement and enrich the primarily stop-motion film with visual elements such as sea and scenery.

The project was originally envisioned as a CGI animated film, but when Sony executives saw the models of the Pirate Captain and his cabin created as references for the animators, they requested that it be made in stop-motion.

Director 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." Jeff Newitt served as co-director on the film.

Naming

For the release outside the United Kingdom, the film was retitled The Pirates! Band of Misfits, as author/screenwriter Gideon 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". Lord's similar response was that "some people reckoned the United Kingdom title wouldn't charm/amuse/work in the United States. Tricky to prove eh?"

Quentin Cooper of the BBC analysed the change of the title and listed several theories. One of them is that the British audience is more tolerant of the eccentricity of the British animators. Another is that the filmmakers did not want to challenge American and other international viewers who do not accept the theory of evolution. He quoted science writer Jennifer Ouellette's 2010 statement at the Science & Entertainment Exchange 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 released in December 2011, the Pirate Captain lands on a ship demanding gold, but is told by a crewmember, "We don't have any gold, old man. This is a leper boat!" before his arm falls off.

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 lead 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 has "leper boat" replaced with "plague boat".

Music

The film's score was composed by Theodore Shapiro in his animated feature score debut. 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" 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, "Alright" by Supergrass, 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 by 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 reached second at the box office behind Think Like a Man while averaging $3,315 through its 3,358 theatres, 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% increase 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's backing of 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

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