Sony Pictures’ The Pirates! Band of Misfits have launched a new interactive site with lots of visual goodies for fans of The Pirates! and Aardman Animation. If you’re not familiar with the name, you’ll probably still recognize their previous works, such as Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Flushed Away. Aardman has a unique and appealing animation style that Steve got to take and up-close-and-personal look at when he visited the set.

Directed by Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt (Chicken Run), The Pirates! Band of Misfits stars Hugh Grant, in his first animated role, as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain who is trying to win the Pirate Of The Year Award with the help of his rag-tag crew (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen).  To win, Pirate Captain must contend with a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and bitter rivals like Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek). The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens April 27th. Hit the jump to meet the pirates. 

I’ve always been slightly perplexed when people ask “How does Santa deliver all his presents in a single night?”  It’s as if the possibility of a fat and jolly gentleman who lives in a hostile climate and has consumer goods made by an army of elves is completely plausible, but there’s no getting around the physics of the delivery.  And if that’s the hang-up, then why not simply answer back, “Magic,”?  Aardman Animation’s Arthur Christmas has fun indulging the question of “How?” but knows that it can be funny and heartwarming if you let Christmas night be magical.

Aardman Animation—the studio behind Chicken Run and the charming adventures of Wallace and Gromit—has sent over 5 clips from their latest effort, Arthur Christmas.  The film reveals the answer to the age-old question: “So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?”

For more on Arthur Christmas, check out Steve’s thoughts on the first 30 minutes and interview with director Sarah Smith.  James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen comprise the voice cast in the November 23 release. Watch the clips after the jump.

Aardman Animation has assembled an impressive voice cast for their upcoming stop-motion 3D animated film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.  Variety reports that Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Salma Hayek, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Blessed, and Ashley Jensen will all lend their voices to the film.  The movie will be the first voice acting role for Grant and he’ll play the lead role of a “bearded Pirate Captain who travels far and wide in a quest to win the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award.”  I’m already smiling at the thought of someone with Grant’s signature foppish, befuddled delivery playing a pirate.   Chicken Run co-director Peter Lord will direct alongside Jeff Newitt.

While Pixar is usually dubbed the “Animation Studio with the Perfect Track Record” I’ve always been incredibly charmed by Aardman’s films.  They’ve only done three feature films to date (Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Flushed Away) and I’ve enjoyed all of them.  Their latest film, Arthur Christmas, opens in 3D on November 23rd.

James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen will be providing the voice talent for Aardman Animation’s 3D CG-animated film Arthur Christmas.  McAvoy will voice the title character who is Santa’s son who must save Christmas.  I have a tough time believing anything could stop the holiday seeing as I couldn’t go 24 hours from Halloween without being pummeled by Christmas marketing.  Variety reports that Laurie will play Arthur’s older brother Steve and the heir to the Christmas throne (Christmas apparently being a monarchy).  Broadbent will play Santa.  Variety makes no mention of how the spaceship on the promo poster figures into the story.

I’ve got relatively high hopes for this film considering Aardman (best known for Wallace & Gromit) usually delivers delightful animated films.  The film is due out on November 23, 2011.

Touchstone Pictures has released the first trailer for their upcoming animated film, Gnomeo and Juliet.  As you’ve probably already guessed, the film is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet… only with gnomes.  The film will feature music by Elton John and the voice cast includes James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, and Ozzy Osbourne.  You can hit the jump to watch the trailer and to see the first image from the film.