Martin Freeman in The Pirates! Band of Misfits

[Carol the Dabbler]

I haven't seen The Pirates! Bank of Misfits yet, but I've heard good things about it -- including the fact that it's up for an Oscar as best Animated Feature Film!

 

Also, I'm very amused by this video of Martin Freeman recording the voice of Pirate with a Scarf (shown side-by-side with the corresponding bits of the finished animation):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7QEMQhUTAA

[chironsgirl]

I saw the film and loved it! It is an all round winner, and I can't believe the Academy had the brains to nominate it. Martin is the voice of "Number Two", the long suffering first mate.

 

This is a family friendly flick; completely suitable for all ages. I hope the nomination gives it good buzz!

[Carol the Dabbler]

My husband and I finally watched the DVD, and it's really funny! As you say, it's a good family film (rated PG) -- kids will enjoy the silly antics and adults will get a laugh from the quirky humor. (In case anyone's confused by the prior posts, Freeman's character is actually named Pirate with a Scarf, but, as chironsgirl says, he's the first mate, so the captain calls him "Number Two.")

 

I've always wondered which comes first, the voices or the animation, and according to the commentary, it's the voices, at least for this movie. They film the voice-recording sessions (which explains the video above), then the stop-motion animators base the puppet's facial movements on the film (which explains why Scarf sometimes looks amazingly like Freeman). We were hoping that there would be more recording-session videos on the DVD, but there aren't any at all.

 

This movie was released in two slightly different editions: The region 1 edition (which we have) is titled "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" and the region 2 edition is (like the original book) "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!" Oddly enough, Albino Pirate is voiced in region 1 by Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the new Star Trek movies) and in region 2 by Russell Tovey (Henry Knight in "Hounds of Baskerville"). The region 1 credits give "special thanks" to Tovey, so I'm guessing that the animation was based on his performance.

 

My favorite quotes: "You can't always just say 'Arrr' at the end of a sentence and think that makes everything all right." (Pirate with a Scarf) and "It's only impossible if you stop to think about it." (Pirate Captain)