Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012)

In 7 words or less: Pirates, more pirates, scientists and queen Vic

What's it all About? The Pirate Captain has one quest in life. To become the Pirate of the year at the annual pirate awards night. To do so he needs to amass a boat load of booty. This year he has the help of a much prized scientific discovery......the last surviving dodo. Unfortunately he has to contend with a jealous Charles Darwin and a pirate hating Queen Victoria.

Pirate with Gout, Albino Pirate, Pirate Captain, Number Two,  Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate

Best bits? The other candidates for pirate of the year have fantastic entrances that are full of spectacle and grandeur. Black Bellamy's is particularly memorable. The scene in Charles Darwin's house where Bobo the monkey butler attempts to steal Polly the Parrot (dodo) is frantic, funny and loaded with balls-to-the wall crazy action.

Ham night!

Did it make you think thoughts? The first 5 mins or so made me question my decision to see this. The animation seemed overly jerky, the sound levels were inconsistent and the characters uninspiring. After the shaky start however, we are treated to a great romp that adults will enjoy as much as the kiddies.  Hugh Grant is surprisingly good in the lead role and has the best lines, two such being, 'We talked about pigs being classed as a fruit' and 'In a street fight, a shark would beat a dracula.' Alongside Hugh, the voice cast is ace with Brendan Gleeson, Salma Hayek, Brian Blessed and Imelda Staunton all providing top notch performances. 

The Pirate King, B Blessed of course

The soundtrack is good and any film that has a Flight of the Conchords tune in it is surely onto a winner (see The Muppets). Adding in a monkey to a film (or anything for that matter) is never a bad thing and Bobo, Darwin's experimental simian, is a hoot throughout. 

Clever, Monkey

Would you watch it again? There are enough jokes and background stuff going on for me to give this another go for such. 

Rating (out of 100%): Avast me hearties and walk the plank. Forget about the latest super smooth computer generated animation lovefest and be transported back to an age of meticulous stop motion animation. The lack of character depth is a problem but then again this is primarily a film for the youngsters. Not quite as good as everyone else has been suggesting, this is still most definitely worth your time. I give Pirates! a shiver me timbering 82%