Movie Review: THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

THE PIRATES: BAND OF MISFITS

PG

2012

"Avast! I'm a pirate captain, and I'm here for your gold!"

-- Pirate Captain

The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a 2012 stop-motion animation film directed by Jeff Newitt & Peter Lord. The film tells the story of the bumbling Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who has led his crew on many adventures but has somehow managed to steal absolutely no booty. As the annual "Pirate of the Year" awards descend upon the seas, the Pirate Captain desperately attempts to find a way to win the award for the first time. He has quite a bit of competition from some of the best captains on the seven seas, but his crew is determined to help him bring home the trophy. After a string of unsuccessful attempts at plundering, the crew meets a scientist named Charles Darwin (voiced by David Tennant) who identifies the crew's parrot Polly as actually being a dodo, which the world thought to be extinct. He informs the crew that a scientists' convention might pay handsomely for such a find, so the Pirate Captain makes sail for London, knowing full well that the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (voiced by Imelda Staunton) may lay in wait.

Those of you who have been reading my reviews for quite a while will know that I'm a bit of a fan of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and those films got me interested in the idea of pirate movies altogether. So, when I heard about an upcoming animated film featuring a ragtag group of pirates sailing for adventure, you can be sure that I was terribly excited to see it. The Pirates! Band of Misfits even managed to pull the number five spot on my ten most anticipated films of 2012. That's saying quite a bit. And so, I impatiently awaited my opportunity to see the film, which has finally come.

I have to say that I feel a little letdown by the film, which didn't necessarily prove to be as funny as I thought it could be. Although there are plenty of moments where the film offers a smile or a chuckle, I was honestly hoping for something a little bit stronger. The film has been well-received by most critics, and it currently holds an eighty-six percent approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com. That's strong, I suppose. I mean, I did find the film utterly entertaining, and it definitely kept my interest from start to finish. Some of the jokes and gags were incredibly inventive and intelligent. They help keep the story moving along nicely, and for that, the screenplay should be commended. There just isn't a ton of depth to the storyline and the dialogue, and that itself is a bit of a knock against the screenplay. It's entertaining, but there was definitely room for improvement.

Luckily, we as the audience are getting a rather strong vocal cast for the film. Grant plays the Pirate Captain fantastically, bringing quite a bit of emotion to the character that could have easily fallen into typical caricature. I also thought that Tennant and Staunton did well. We're also getting a number of smaller vocal performances from some big-time actors. Be on the listen for the likes of Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, Anton Yelchin, Brendan Gleeson and a slightly misplaced Jeremy Piven. But this is definitely Grant's effort, and it's a very strong effort and worth enjoying.

I do have to commend the animation crew for crafting some of the best stop-motion animation I've ever seen in a film. We're starting to see a resurgence in the stop-motion field, and I think each subsequent film will provide a little more of a piece to the puzzle, and it starts here with The Pirates! Band of Misfits. It's a visually beautiful film, and for that reason alone, it's worth watching.

At the end of the day, The Pirates! Band of Misfits is a fun film that's good for a chuckle and a few laughs, and the animation itself is astoundingly beautiful. Still, the film as a whole feels just a little bit flat, and although you'll be smiling at film's end, I'd challenge any viewer to try to remember the film a week from now. It just doesn't have that retaining factor to bring it into the upper echelon of animated films.

Movie Review Summary

Grade: B

Should You Watch It? Yes

Movie Review: ALBERT NOBBS

ALBERT NOBBS

2011
R


"You don't have to be anything but who you are."
-- Hubert Page

Albert Nobbs is a 2011 drama directed by Rodrigo García that centers around a woman presenting herself as a man in order to make decent living wages in nineteenth-century Ireland. For years, Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) has been passing herself off as a man while working her way towards opening her own tobacco shop, but during her time at Morrison's Hotel, her secret is unexpectedly learned by a visiting painter named Hubert Page (Janet McTeer), who happens to hold the same secret. When Albert learns that Hubert has managed to secure a wife and has been living happily as a man for some time, she hopes to do the same. She starts to try to woo a young woman at Morrison's named Helen (Mia Wasikowska), who has fallen into a deep infatuation with a younger and much more hotheaded man named Joe (Aaron Johnson), who tries to talk Helen into taking some of Albert's money so that they can run off to America together.

I had heard a little bit about this film a few months ago, but now that it has been nominated for three Academy Awards, it has started to gain a little more public notice. Having garnered nominations for both Close and McTeer - as well as one for the makeup in the film - it's no surprise that those were the two I was most excited to see. I went into the viewing relatively blind, having not known that the movie itself had received rather mixed reviews despite its high-caliber cast and reportedly strong performances. Had I known this beforehand, I may not have been as eager to see Albert Nobbs as I had been originally.

Let's start with the acting, considering that's what's getting most of the buzz. While Close and McTeer are both very good in their respective roles, I did not see anything that was truly outstanding from either of them. Sure, they offer interesting characters, but there was never a moment that truly made them stand above the rest of the cast. In all honesty, I thought Wasikowska and Johnson happened to steal the show, bringing a lot more emotion and a sense of real-ness to their performances. Their characters seemed more realistic, and even though I wanted to hate both of them from time to time, they ultimately felt more believable than either the Albert or Hubert characters. If these two managed to score Oscar nominations for their roles, then I'd have to say that this year's field is mighty shallow indeed. We also get some small performances from the likes of Brendan Gleeson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, so be on the lookout for them as well.

I think the film's real issue, however, lies in its screenplay. While we're getting an interesting story that offers a clever narrative, it never once manages to pack the emotional punch that you're waiting for throughout the film. From the very outset, I had the feeling that there would be this huge moment of emotion and catharsis where everyone learned of Albert's true identity, and while that moment does come, it all seemed a tad bit anti-climactic. There seemed to be a lot of emotional moments in the film, but it's told in such a dry and humdrum manner than it was difficult for me to find reason to care about any of the characters. They're all rather one-dimensional - with the exception of McTeer's Hubert - and I found that to be a tad bit annoying after a while. Give me some character arc or at least a little bit of depth, ya know? Ultimately, every facet of the screenplay just seemed to fall flat, and it ultimately hurts the film in the long run.

As I said before, the Academy must have been scratching and searching for nominees for this year's awards if they managed to award Albert Nobbs with multiple nominations. While it's by no means the worst film I've seen this year, it definitely ranks as one of the more disappointing. At the end of the day, it's a boring tale of a woman who's pretending to be a man in order to make a few more bucks. And when a movie starts to get boring, it's going to lose its audience. And let me tell you: this one lost me pretty early.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: C
0.5 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: THE SECRET OF KELLS

THE SECRET OF KELLS

2009
Not Rated

The Secret of Kells is an animated Irish film directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey. It follows a young boy named Brendan (voiced by Evan McGuire) as he tries to write and create the famous Book of Kells. All Brendan has ever known was the village of Kells, which is watched over by his uncle, Abbot Cellach (voiced by Brendan Gleeson), and the walls being built around the village for protection from the North Men. When a man named Aidan (voiced by Mick Lally) arrives in Kells from Iona, Brendan immediately starts to question him about the famed Book of Iona which is said to be able to turn darkness into light. Against the wishes of his uncle, Brendan enters the forest outside the village walls in order to search for a special type of berry that will make an emerald ink so that Aidan may finish the book. Along the way, he meets a forest fairy named Aisling (voiced by Christen Mooney) who helps him in his search. When he returns to the village, the Abbot forbids Brendan from venturing outside the walls; instead, he takes to helping Aidan with the Book of Iona, all the while watching as his uncle slaves over the wall meant to protect the village.

I'm gonna start by saying that the above synopsis does this movie's storyline absolutely no justice. In fact, it's much more intricate than what I've provided, and that's saying a lot considering the movie's run-time barely passes seventy minutes. There's so many words that come to mind when I think about how I want to describe The Secret of Kells, and I don't think any of them really encapsulates it fully. However, I think I'll list them anyways, and hopefully they'll give you a little bit of insight into the automatic reaction I had to the film.

• Visceral
• Magical
• Real
• Dark
• Haunting
• Original
• Beautiful

I'm sure there's many other ways I could possibly describe this movie, but that's the immediate reactions I had.

The voice cast is also rather pitch-perfect. The only name you'd probably recognize on the list is that of Gleeson, but while I was watching the movie, I probably never would've guessed that was him. I have to give a lot of credit to McGuire and Mooney, who were absolutely fantastic. We also have a rather fantastic musical composition from Bruno Coulais that perfect accentuates the film's tone.

I know I'm not really saying much about this movie, but I'm really at a little bit of a loss for words this time around. Just take my movie review summary (listed below) as evidence of my admiration for this film. If that's not enough to sway you, ask me for more information. I'm sure I'll be able to give you some more at a later date.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up
*****
Lists
Top 10 Films of 2009
*****
Awards
2009: 1 nomination