In 1837, a young, ambitious Charles Darwin was writing in his journal aboard the HMS Beagle when the vessel was waylaid by pirates. But what caught his attention was the feathery mascot accompanying the posse of pillagers: a dodo bird, thought at the time to be extinct for more than 150 years. In this rare specimen, Darwin envisioned the pathway to scientific fame for himself — and the pirate captain saw the opportunity for vast riches.
OK, so none of that actually happened. But that’s the loopy premise of The Pirates! Bands of Misfits, the latest stop-motion animation feature from Aardman Animations, the British studio best known for Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.
Based on a series of tongue-in-cheek novels from Gideon Defoe, which feature a particularly inept band of buccaneers having adventures with caricatured historical and literary figures, Pirates is just what audiences have come to expect from Aardman: smart, adventure-driven comedy with all-ages appeal and an affinity for clever sight gags.
The first scene involving the pirates themselves is a succinct introduction to what kind of humor is in store: A heated argument is going on below deck about just what the best thing about being a pirate is. Is it the looting or the cutlasses? Or maybe the exotic diseases?
The squabble is interrupted by the Pirate Captain — Hugh Grant, voicing a character whose name literally is “Pirate Captain” — who suggests they’re all wrong, and launches into a musical tribute to both piracy and the fact that it’s “Ham Night” aboard the ship.