The Pirates! Band of Misfits
★★½

History fans, stay away. You will be extremely upset about the wildly inaccurate portrayals of Her Majesty, the Empress of India, Queen Victoria. Not to mention Charles Darwin.

If you’re willing to suspend your frickin’ disbelief, those are some of the most fun part of The Pirates!

Pirate Captain (voice of Hugh Grant) wants a little respect. He wants the Pirate of the Year Award. He sets out to make a big haul of treasure, but only manages to nab poor old Charles Darwin (voice of David Tennant) from H.M.S. Beagle. Darwin, meanwhile, sees that Pirate Captain has something that could make him Scientist of the Year. Darwin convinces Captain to go back to England for “untold riches” from the Royal Society.

For lots of reasons (including that I’m a biologist and was tickled to have Darwin a key character in the film), I wanted to love this movie. And I giggled my way through a lot of it. I had fun. But it never quite manages either the subtlety or the glorious highs of some Aardman’s other efforts.

Though the big finale is quite big.

The 3-D didn’t add much to the viewing experience, unfortunately.