The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (Dir Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt, 2012) is the first hand-animated feature film released by Aardman Studios since the successful Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Dir. Steve Box & Nick Park, 2005). Much like the Wallace and Gromit franchise, The Pirates! features plenty of intertextual jokes, a plot full of twists and a generally entertaining film.
The narrative follows a simple but eventful plot so as to appeal to the younger audience. Many of the jokes throughout The Pirates! therefore utilise slapstick and basic comedy to please the target audience. However, for the adult spectator, many jokes are intertextual and may need multiple viewings to understand or even notice them. This use of gags, and simple plot, can be seen all through Aardman's filmography.
Aardman famously utilise a British cast in their films and they do not forsake this convention in The Pirates!. Hugh Grant gives, arguably, the best performance of his career as the Pirate Captain, helping drive the story forward with a strong supporting British cast. The films roster is full of other famous British faces including David Tennant, Martin Freeman, Russell Tovey and Brian Blessed. Yet even with this almost pure British cast The Pirates! seems very American. Perhaps it is the partnership with Sony and the over-excessive use of CGI, or perhaps it is the plot that bears similarities to the U.S. blockbuster, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Dir Gore Verbinski, 2003), but The Pirates! just seemingly lacks the charm and quaintness that the Wallace and Gromitfranchise has.
Finally, I will briefly discuss the use of 3-D within The Pirates!, which was the first film I have seen in 3-D this year (2012). And having only previously seen Jackass 3D and Avatar in 3-D I have mixed opinions on cinema's desire to use this media. I believe that some films, like Avatar, cleverly utilised 3-D by enhancing the depth of field, whereas many films desire only to pop things out of the screen at the audience Unfortunately, The Pirates! attempts to do both of these things, causing the clarity of anything in the background to be hindered because of the foreground focus. I would urge people not to waste money seeing this movie, and countless others, in the third dimension.
Aardman had a lot to live up to when creating, and releasing, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, due to the success of their other films. I have to say it was a little disappointing as I had gone into the cinema expecting Wallace and Gromit on an epic ocean-battle scale, while keeping the quaint "Britishness" presented by both the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run (Dir. Peter Lord & Nick Park, 2000). But in fact I found a clay-mation of The Pirates of the Caribbean with a stronger plot and exciting characters. All I can hope is that the next film to come out of Aardman studios is another Wallace and Gromit.
http://dalelawsonreviews.tumblr.com/
The narrative follows a simple but eventful plot so as to appeal to the younger audience. Many of the jokes throughout The Pirates! therefore utilise slapstick and basic comedy to please the target audience. However, for the adult spectator, many jokes are intertextual and may need multiple viewings to understand or even notice them. This use of gags, and simple plot, can be seen all through Aardman's filmography.
Aardman famously utilise a British cast in their films and they do not forsake this convention in The Pirates!. Hugh Grant gives, arguably, the best performance of his career as the Pirate Captain, helping drive the story forward with a strong supporting British cast. The films roster is full of other famous British faces including David Tennant, Martin Freeman, Russell Tovey and Brian Blessed. Yet even with this almost pure British cast The Pirates! seems very American. Perhaps it is the partnership with Sony and the over-excessive use of CGI, or perhaps it is the plot that bears similarities to the U.S. blockbuster, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Dir Gore Verbinski, 2003), but The Pirates! just seemingly lacks the charm and quaintness that the Wallace and Gromitfranchise has.
Finally, I will briefly discuss the use of 3-D within The Pirates!, which was the first film I have seen in 3-D this year (2012). And having only previously seen Jackass 3D and Avatar in 3-D I have mixed opinions on cinema's desire to use this media. I believe that some films, like Avatar, cleverly utilised 3-D by enhancing the depth of field, whereas many films desire only to pop things out of the screen at the audience Unfortunately, The Pirates! attempts to do both of these things, causing the clarity of anything in the background to be hindered because of the foreground focus. I would urge people not to waste money seeing this movie, and countless others, in the third dimension.
Aardman had a lot to live up to when creating, and releasing, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, due to the success of their other films. I have to say it was a little disappointing as I had gone into the cinema expecting Wallace and Gromit on an epic ocean-battle scale, while keeping the quaint "Britishness" presented by both the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run (Dir. Peter Lord & Nick Park, 2000). But in fact I found a clay-mation of The Pirates of the Caribbean with a stronger plot and exciting characters. All I can hope is that the next film to come out of Aardman studios is another Wallace and Gromit.
http://dalelawsonreviews.tumblr.com/