The Pirates! Band of Misfits

THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 26th, 2012 at 2:29 pm

Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits packs the frame with sight gags, constantly throws out clever asides, and has more wit than a dozen other animated family films combined.  And yet, it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny.  Being clever, witty, and fun usually lead to a film that constantly has you gasping for air from laughing so hard, but those hard laughs never come in The Pirates!.  Instead, the movie generates both admiration for the intelligence of its jokes and the frustration that those jokes can only muster grins and chuckles.

New Trailer for THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS Parodies THE HUNGER GAMES

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: April 2nd, 2012 at 7:39 pm

The Hunger Games promptly grossed $250 million domestic in its first 10 days, which solidifies its spot in the spoofable pop culture lexicon.  The Muppets got in on the game early with a parody trailer to promote the March Blu-ray release; The Pirates! Band of Misfits now follows suit with a new trailer that touts the 74th Annual Pirate Games.  Although I went on the record with my anticipation for the Aardman Animation stop-motion comedy, the sight gags that made me chuckle in previous trailers don’t seem to translate especially well to the Hunger Games structure.  Still, an expressive, mute monkey who speaks through decorated cards will never not be funny, so the clip is worth the 30 seconds.

Voiced by Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, and Imelda Staunton, The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens on April 27 .  Watch the trailer after the jump.

New Featurette for THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS Has Hugh Grant Talking about Voicing the Pirate Captain

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 15th, 2012 at 1:58 pm

A new featurette for Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits has gone online.  In the featurette, Hugh Grant talks about voicing the lead character, the Pirate Captain.  Grant explains that the captain is incredibly vain, but also has a wide-eyed innocence.  It’s a description that could also apply to the male protagonists of Aardman’s Chicken Run and Flushed Away.  But Aardman has made that character funny both times, and judging by what we’ve seen of The Pirates! so far, it looks like they’ve succeeded again.  Grant also notes that he had to tailor his performance to the look of the character since Aardman had already physically created the Pirate Captain before Grant was cast.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette and click here for Steve’s set visit and interview with director Peter Lord.  The film also features the voices of Salma Hayek, Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, and Imelda Staunton.  The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on April 27th.

New Behind-the-Scenes Images from Aardman Animation’s THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: March 5th, 2012 at 2:01 pm

If you’ve seen the trailers for Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits, you know we’re most likely in for another comedy gem from the studio that brought us Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit.  However, you might not be aware that the stop-motion animation process used to bring The Pirates! to life was an arduous task that spanned 18 months.  We’ve already brought you a featurette giving us a peek into the filming process, as well as coverage from Steve’s visit to the set and interview with director Peter Lord, and now we’ve got new behind-the-scenes images to share with you that detail how The Pirates! was brought to life.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, and Imelda Staunton. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on April 27th.

New Images from THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: February 29th, 2012 at 7:02 pm

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. 

15 Things to Know About THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS From Our Set Visit; Plus an Interview with Director Peter Lord

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 21st, 2012 at 11:01 am

In a non-descript office park about an hour and a half outside of London, the magicians of Aardman Animation are hard at work bringing their next stop-motion movie, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, to life.  At least they were back in October, when I got the chance to visit the studios.  If you’re not familiar with the name Aardman, they’re one of the best animation companies in the world and they’ve made great music videos, short films, TV shows, and feature films like Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, and Flushed Away.  Quite simply, when you see the name Aardman, you know you’re going to get something special and it’s going to be unlike anything else out there.

In their latest film directed by Peter Lord, which is based on The Pirates! book series by Gideon Defoe, Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain who is trying to win the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award with his rag-tag crew (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen).  However, with a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and bitter rivals like Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) trying to stop him, it’s not going to be an easy task.  Hit the jump for more.

THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS Featurette Highlights the Painstaking Process of Stop-Motion Animation

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 16th, 2012 at 6:24 pm

A new featurette for the upcoming animated comedy The Pirates! Band of Misfits has gone online. The film comes from Aardman Animations, the studio behind Chicken Run and Arthur Christmas, and if you think all their wacky jokes and oddball humor are amusing, just wait until you see what goes into putting that goofiness onscreen. The stop-motion animation process for The Pirates! took 18 months to shoot. That’s a year and a half spent filming one movie. This featurette takes you behind-the-scenes of the incredible work the people at Aardman do and reveals just how difficult it is to put together a stop-motion film of this magnitude

Hit the jump to watch the featurette. The film features the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Jeremy Piven, and Imelda Staunton. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on April 27th.

New Images from THE HUNGER GAMES, MEN IN BLACK 3, THE GANGSTER SQUAD, and Many More

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 16th, 2012 at 8:12 am

2012 has begun and that means fresh optimism!  Fresh movies!  Fresh images from those movies!  After the jump you’ll find 21 new images from upcoming movies like  The Hunger Games, Men in Black 3, Rock of Ages, The Five-Year Engagement, The Gangster Squad, and plenty more (for our purposes, plenty =  16).

Collider’s Most Anticipated 2012 Movies: January to March

by Collider Staff    Posted: January 10th, 2012 at 8:24 am

The first three months of the year are often known as the dumping ground that follows the loaded awards season, but we here at Collider found plenty to look forward to in the releases from January to March.  As part of our Most Anticipated series, Matt, Adam, Brendan, and Dave each picked their top 5 and included a brief explanation of why these movies are noteworthy, and what has us excited.  All in all, we selected ten films that represent a variety of genres including drama, comedy, action, horror, sci-fi, and animation.  Hit the jump for our picks, along with information on the cast and plot for each film.

Top 10 Trailers of 2011

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 26th, 2011 at 8:45 pm

A trailer usually has less than two minutes and thirty seconds to dazzle the viewer and put a movie on his or her radar.  The Internet allows studios to go beyond this theater-mandated time limit and not only run a longer trailer, but also ones that have been approved only for the emotionally mature online community.  But no matter the runtime or how many times a character can swear, the trailer still has to grab your attention.  They can sell us on a premise we didn’t know we wanted, and can find a way to make us even more excited for a movie we were already itching to see.

Hit the jump to check out my picks for Top 10 Trailers of 2011.

New Trailer for THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 16th, 2011 at 1:19 pm

A new trailer for Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits has gone online. This trailer maintains the delightfully goofy tone we’ve seen from past trailers, and delves a bit more into the plot. The story centers on a pirate captain named Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who’s on a quest to win the Pirate of the Year award. We also get a look at the character voiced by Jeremy Piven here. This trailer didn’t grab me as much as the last two, and it kind of feels like a more Americanized version targeted at audiences here in the States. Nevertheless, I’m still very excited to see the finished film, as Aardman’s next picture Arthur Christmas has been rounding up some very positive reactions.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, and Martin Freeman. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on March 30th, 2012.

International Trailer for THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: October 25th, 2011 at 7:25 am

The international trailer for The Pirates! Band of Misfits has been released. This may be my favorite trailer for the film yet, as it delves more into plot and maintains that delightfully goofy tone that Aardman (the studio behind Wallace & Gromit) does so well. We also get some good stuff from the character Charles Darwin (yes, that Charles Darwin) and lots of kooky pirates. The story centers on a pirate captain named Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) who’s determined to win the Pirate of the Year Award. This one is definitely high on my most anticipated list for 2012.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, and Jeremy Piven. The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens in 3D on March 30th, 2012.

David Tennant Exclusive Interview FRIGHT NIGHT

by Christina Radish    Posted: August 17th, 2011 at 11:34 pm

I have to admit, when I heard that a remake was being done of the 1985 horror classic Fright Night, I was skeptical. But then, I saw the film and not only really enjoyed the performances and new twists, but also the nods to the original and the roller coaster ride of scares and humor. What stood out most of all for me was David Tennant’s absolutely brilliant, layered performance of popular Las Vegas illusionist and self-proclaimed vampire expert, Peter Vincent. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to speak with the intriguing actor for this exclusive phone interview with Collider.

During our chat, David Tennant (much-loved for his turn as the 10^th Doctor in the popular Doctor Who television series) talked about how delighted and thrilled he was to take on such a juicy character, how he felt it was time again for a vampire story where the vampire is an unquestionable monster, that he did each scene a variety of ways to find the right tone of horror and humor, what fun he had with co-star Anton Yelchin, and how much he enjoyed the film himself, even though he’s in it. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

New Posters for HAPPY FEET TWO, OUR IDIOT BROTHER and THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: July 26th, 2011 at 3:42 pm

We’ve got a few new posters to share with you today. First up is the poster for George Miller’s Happy Feet Two. The sequel to 2006’s dancing penguins movie features the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Hank Azaria. The film opens November 18^th. Additionally, we’ve got a new poster for the comedy Our Idiot Brother. The indie stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer and hits theaters on August 16^th.

Additionally, we’ve got the new poster for Aardman Animation’s (Wallace and Gromit) stop-motion animated comedy The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The film features the voice talents of Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek and David Tennant. I caught the panel for the flick at Comic-Con and it looks hilarious. You can read my recap here. The film opens March 30^th, 2012. Hit the jump to check out the posters.

Comic-Con 2011: THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS and ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Panel Recap

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: July 21st, 2011 at 1:55 pm

If the name Aardman Animation sounds familiar to you, it’s for good reason. While not as prolific as DreamWorks or Pixar, the studio turns out fantastic animated films. Past Aardman flicks include Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, and at this year’s Comic-Con, the studio gave a preview of their two upcoming releases The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Arthur Christmas. Hit the jump for our full recap from the panel.

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