The Pirates! Band of Misfits Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 103 Ratings

  • Summary: In The Pirates! Band of Misfits, the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side, and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beaeat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist, but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure! (Columbia Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 31
  2. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    Apr 26, 2012
    90
    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.
  2. Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Apr 26, 2012
    80
    A clever piece of business that is a complete pleasure to experience.
  3. Reviewed by: Pete Hammond
    Apr 27, 2012
    80
    The Pirates! Band of Misfits is one of the funniest animated films in years, or to put it in terms you scallywags can understand: it's a treasure trove of laughs.
  4. Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Apr 26, 2012
    60
    The claymation visuals are charming, and an enthusiastic, if somewhat underused, cast works hard to sell the better jokes (though the funniest gag is a silent monkey butler).

See all 31 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 29
  2. Negative: 2 out of 29
  1. Watching this took me back to the good old days of being younger. I loved this movie, just like i loved Wallace and Gromit and Flushed Away, if you are a fan of Wallace and Gromit then you will love The Pirates! It was such a funny, wonderful film. The animation was beautiful and the voices were perfect. Just a great film all around. The Pirates is a film that won't disappoint, theres fun for everyone. 10/10 Expand
  2. The 3D is worthwhile; you get your money's worth for the glasses. The stop motion animation is overall very smooth, and the film is chock full of sight gags and verbal humor. What makes The Pirates on par with Pixar films is that it's just as much fun for adults as it is for kids. The humor is often sly, and may sail over the heads of children, but there's also cartoony sight gags the kids will enjoy. Full review on my blog. Collapse
  3. Pretty good film! I chuckled throughout, though I can't help but wish it made me really laugh. The plot is decent, but not as exciting and imaginative as it could be. Some of the characters (especially the crew, oddly) are extremely underdeveloped and could have been fleshed out more, given more back-story and more lines. Towards the end, the film does devolve into the seemingly obligatory 'final showdown', though the ending rounds things off well. Hopefully the planned sequel improves on these flaws, as there is a brilliant film in the rough Expand
  4. The Pirates! Band of Misfits or its original title: In an Adventure with Scientists, which I think is more accurate, was just another animated movie from the bunch. Personally I do not like the esthetic with that are created these characters (same as Chicken Run and Wallace Gromit), but I decided to see it only because it was nominated for the Academy Award. This picture treats the story of a Captain that tries in every possible way to become a renowned pirate, so we face topics like self-confidence, discrimination and the value of friendship. The problem is that the film deals with them in a funny way but falls into stupidity; I mean queen Victoria fighting with katanas, Charles Darwin covered by feathers and that the greatest thing of being a pirate is ham night, maybe can make a five year old laugh, but it took away all the possible meaning that this movie could have. Just a few things were actually amusing, like the names of the pirates (albino pirate, surprisingly curvaceous pirate and pirate who likes sunsets and kittens), the presentation of scientist captain with the 2001: An Space Odyssey style and the introduction to the evolution theory that the protagonist gives to Darwin. Expand

See all 29 User Reviews