I always rolled my eyes when I saw trailers for kids' movies with this Claymation style. I just never got into. Honestly, they looked stupid. After seeing The Pirates! Band of Misfits I've changed my mind.
The plot of Pirates! is pretty simple, Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) wants to be Pirate of the Year. He's got stiff competition from his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek), who has a penchant for randomly stabbing people, and set out with his rag-tag crew to have the ultimate adventure. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist and his monkey.
Like the plot of the film, the humor of The Pirates! Band of Misfits was equally simple and that's okay. It made the film easy to watch and easy to laugh at. It plays directly to its intended audience of children and manages to keep the adults entertained and more importantly it does just enough to keep your attention. The animation was on par with the styles of Wallace and Grommit but it's not going to be competing with Pixar or DreamWorks. It's offered in 3D but while the kids may jump and down for it, the price on your wallet isn't going to be worth it.
I give The Pirates! Band of Misfits 7 stars out of 11.
Also this week, from producer Judd Apatow, The Five-Year Engagement stars Jason Segal and Emily Blunt as a young engaged couple whose marriage date keeps getting delayed by careers, deaths, and other unfortunate relationship-testing mishaps. John Cusack brings master of the macabre Edgar Allen Poe to life in The Raven as the author sets out to stop a madman who is bringing the horrific depictions of death in his novels to life. Safe is an action thriller starring Jason Statham as a homeless man who comes across a frightened twelve-year old girl and jumps to action in order to protect her and get revenge on the gangsters who killed his wife.
Next week, The Avengers.