High Seas Hi-jinks

The Pirates!  In an Adventure with Scientists is from the creators of Wallace and Gromit and larded with the kind of absurd humour that Monty Python used to make its own. A star-studded cast is led by Hugh Grant as the diffident Pirate Captain, an amiable buccaneer on a quest to become Pirate of the Year (think Britain’s Got Talent with plunder).  Set at the start of the reign of Queen Victoria (a ferocious Imelda Staunton), anachronisms abound (e.g. more of the world map painted red than should be at the time) but when that is a meta-theme of the narrative it seems churlish to criticise.  The film is dotted with sight gags on every part of the screen, such as a London pub with a sign proclaiming ‘Live Sports Here: Urchin-chucking; Cockney-baiting’.  It is also refreshing to see a film that takes a light-hearted (as opposed to po-faced) approach to Charles Darwin (David Tennant in a quicksilver portrayal) and his legacy.  Some of the set-pieces are simultaneously hilarious and impressive.  Once again, Aardman Animations have fashioned an enjoyable story that has the balance correct between adults and children.  Four out of Five.