THE DEVILMENT IS IN THE DETAIL (PIRATES! AN ADVENTURE WITH SCIENTISTS)

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THE DEVILMENT IS IN THE DETAIL

Are you getting that sinking feeling about 'Titanic' being re-released in 3D?

Do you nevertheless yearn for a movie set on the high seas?

Well, thank God, then, for Bristol-based animators Aardman who have returned to our cinemas with a wonderful family film, 'The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!'

The creators of Morph and 'Chicken Run' are back with their first claymation feature since 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit ' and it doesn't disappoint.

Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) is loved by a motley crew of trusty sea dogs that includes 
Pirate Second (Martin Freeman), Pirate with Gout (Brendan Gleeson sporting a goofy Dublin accent), Albino Pirate (Russell Tovey) and a woman disguised with a false ginger beard called Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (Ashley Jansen).

The crew initially bicker over what's the best thing about being a pirate - is it the scurvy? Is it cutlasses? Sea shanties!

 No. It turns out to be their weekly ham night.

During ham night, Pirate Captain declares his intention to enter the Pirate of the Year awards again.

 However his track record isn't good - he has only ever won a runners-up rosette for Most Entertaining Anecdote About A Squid.

When he enters the contest, he is ridiculed by his more successful Pirate contemporaries Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry), the sultry Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) and the supremely arrogant Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven).

Determined to prove his detractors wrong, he sets sail in search of infamy and fortune.

 After a series of disastrous raids on ships, he stumbles upon The Beagle containing a lovelorn Charles Darwin (David Tennant).

Disappointed by the lack of booty, they make Darwin walk the plank only to learn from him that their beloved parrot Polly is really a Dodo and the scientific discovery of the year.

Darwin talks the Pirate Captain and his crew into risking their lives by sailing to London, where Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) has decreed any Pirate captured by her Beefeaters will be executed.

There, they enter the Scientist of the Year contest in the hope that that will earn them a huge fortune but instead they have to fend off Darwin and Queen Victoria's desperate attempts to purloin Polly.

Adapted by Gideon Defoe from his own children's novel, 'The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!' is an ideal Easter treat for children and adults who revel in the Pythonesque humour of shows like CBBC's 'Horrible Histories'.

As with all Aardman stop-start animation films, the gags come thick and fast in Peter Lord's feature and they never feel forced. 

In fact, one of the joys of this and other Aardman classics is not just the smart screenplay, the mischievous performances or the wonderful array of claymation facial expressions but the very subtle jokes planted on the sets.

And so, we have a sticker on the crew's ship urging fellow sailors to 'Honk, If You're Seasick!', Pirate Captain reading celebrity pirate magazine Ahoy!, the Man Kee laundry service and a tavern boasting live sports such as urchin throwing and Cockney baiting.

Eagle eyed viewers will also spot a gold Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit in Queen Victoria's treasure room.

Lord's movie is wonderfully disrespectful of authority - Queen Victoria is the main villain.

And the movie is worth the price of admission alone for a joke involving The Elephant Man and Jane Austen.

Add to that a smart music soundtrack featuring classics from the Pogues and Tenpole Tudor.

It also features the best performance Hugh Grant has given in years but the entire cast from Brendan Gleeson to Imelda Staunton, David Tennant to Brian Blessed, Lenny Henry to Salma Hayek and Jeremy Piven are clearly having so much fun in Aardman's latest labour of love - a total of 525 people worked on the film including 33 animators.

'The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!' set sail in UK and Irish cinemas on March 30, 2012 and thoroughly deserves to romp home with box office gold.

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