You wait five years for an Aardman movie to arrive, and then two turn up within six months of each other. We really enjoyed CG-feature Arthur Christmas, but it’s Aardman’s first stop-frame animated movie since Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit that is already shaping up as the family movie to beat in 2012.
Everything we’ve seen of the film thus far demonstrates a lavish attention to detail, a steadfast sense of character, and a style and wit that few of 2012’s releases look set to be able to hold a torch too. It helps that the expertise of Peter Lord – creator of Morph, director of Chicken Run – is calling the shots on the film, but there’s more to The Pirates than that.
This is a massively ambitious production, about a Pirate Captain who’s trying to win a Pirate Of The Year competition despite the fact that he’s generally a bit rubbish. This lays a platform for Aardman to not only showcase its unparalleled craft, but to put together a funny, warm family adventure (it's already looking like one of 2012's funniest).
It might not prove to be the biggest animated hit of 2012 (it doesn’t help that the film has a different title on each side of the channel), but its competition will have a job on their hands to beat it for sheer quality. We can’t wait.
Incidentally, it’s also the only film on the 2012 roster that uses the voice talent of Brian Blessed that we’re aware of. Shame on every other film.
No comments:
Post a Comment