: The Pirates! Band of Misfits
For reasons I don’t understand, I’m not a fan of this Wallace and Gromit style of animation. (I normally like stop-motion, but this stuff makes me a little nauseous.) It gets better after I watch it a while, but it’s definitely not my favorite.
The humor in this one is also questionable, doing things like including modern references in a period piece. Sometimes that’s funny, but most of the time it just produces a “Huh?” response. For instance, in one scene the pirate captain backs his ship into the harbor and we hear a beeping sound, like trucks make when backing up. Sort of funny, but sort of not.
The plot’s strange, too: it involves an inept pirate and his misfit crew trying to win a “pirate of the year” contest (I liken that to anarchists organizing an “anarchists of the year” award show), with Charles Darwin and Queen Victoria trying to steal the pirate’s pet Dodo bird for their own nefarious ends. Yup. That’s right. Queen V is the villain in this one and it’s really weird. Maybe you have to be British to get that, I don’t know.
Not as bad as it sounds, and there are some really clever gags and scenes, but it’s very uneven. I did like that the main pirate isn’t an idiot — he’s actually pretty intelligent — just down on his luck. Still, this seems targeted at very young kids who will enjoy the cartoon violence and silliness. Disappointing.
Topic: [/movie] |
