Pirates! Band of Misfits, The

Synopsis
Set sail for fun with this family-friendly Aardman Animations adventure following a bumbling, abundantly bearded scallywag who competes against his two biggest rivals for the title Pirate of the Year. Try as he might, the Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) just can't be taken seriously as a plunderer. But that might change if he could only manage to win the Pirate of the Year competition. As the event gets under way, the Pirate Captain makes it his mission to leave dreaded foes Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) sinking in his wake. Before that can happen, though, the determined Pirate Captain will have to seek out the help of a love-struck scientist (David Tennant) and defeat a malevolent queen (Imelda Staunton), who might just send him down to Davy Jones' Locker.

Reviews
"Great Claymation, like the kind in this adventure from the legendary Aardman studios, still radiates a warmth that no mind-bending number of pixels can match." -- Grade: B+ (Entertainment Weekly)

3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[T]he film is sure-footed, witty and zany fun....The actors who lend their voices to the characters could not be more spot-on." (USA Today)

"[A] clever piece of business that is a complete pleasure to experience." (Los Angeles Times)

"[V]isually the film is a joy, adroitly filling out its rich stop-motion world with judicious CG embellishments....The character design is unfailingly lovely and original..." (Sight and Sound)

4 stars out of 5 -- "THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS is one of the funniest animated films in years....It's a treasure trove of laughs." (Box Office)

"Exquisitely detailed — from its ocean breakers to the wavelike curlicues on the luxurious beard of the Pirate Captain -- the movie is a curiosity cabinet of visual pleasures but so breezy and lightly funny that you may not realize at first how good it is." (New York Times)

"Aardman has returned to the stop-motion claymation that helped build the company name....Beautifully made..." (Movieline)