Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists (2012)

Pirates In An Adventure With Scientists (or for ease; Pirates) is the new feature film from Aardman animation, them behind Wallace & Gromit, and Chicken Run. It's a return to claymation after Arthur Christmas' more standard animation, but it is missing Nick Parks. It follows the adventure of Pirate Captain, the nicest Pirate Captain around (not a good thing in the pirating community), who is constantly striving for recognition from his peers. He's not likely to win Pirate of the Year, so when Charles Darwin and he come to meet, and it is pointed out to him that his parrot is in fact a Dodo (thought to be extinct) he is told about the Scientist of the Year award which he is a dead cert to win. However, Darwin may have his own agenda.

This is a kids film, and was billed as being one of those films with loads for adults too. Most of the adult related jokes are through the background, with some very amusing pictures/articles people in the background. The foreground is mostly taken up by the bright pirates, wonderful clay figures and visual gags that work to varying degrees. Whilst this film is visually very nice to look at, the sound is where it kind of falls down. There is an important lesson to be learned that, just because a song is a good song, doesn't mean it will work in a given situation. In this film we have songs from The Clash, The Specials, Flight Of The Conchords and other great musical acts. However, in the situations they are used are sometimes okay, but often very jarring or confusing, such as the flight of the conchords song, which is a comedy song, but used in a serious situation. This was off putting throughout the film and one of the major flaws.

The other problem with the film is that it is missing one of the key ingredients of an Aardman film, it's missing Nick Parks. Whilst Wallace & Gromit is filled with great subtlety and wit, charm and so much more. Pirates is enjoyable enough, but it doesn't ever take off beyond the mediocre. It's a real shame, because there are some really nice ideas in this film. The main plot is an interesting one, and some of the jokes are a treat (I particularly enjoyed the John Merrick gag).

I think one aspect of my issue with the film is that I'm a little fed up of Pirates. After disappointing Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels and numerous spoofs I'm a little pirated out. So the film was already a little stale even before it came out. It also is perhaps a little too aimed at children, with not quite enough for older viewers, or rather, the gags for older viewers aren't as clever as the jokes for kids, which is a bit of a shame. I'd recommend this film for the kids, I'd say it was an enjoyable film, but it's far from a classic, very average, which Aardman shouldn't be.