The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists

[superhero]

Premiere for this is going to be on the 22nd March. There should be quite a few people attending with so much local talent involved.

[sikmansam]

Tonight i was out to see this at Empire Leicester Square (thanks to hugo_macedo) but i won't be able to review the film till its officially released due to an embargo . What i can say though, is that its a really delightful film that i would definitely have pa*d to see with a top notch, mostly English, voice casting.

At the opening there was an array of activities going on (face painting, cutlass balloons, free pictures) and there was even free chocolate coins on our seats! The director, a Sony representative, and Brian Blessed (of the Hobbit in December) were on hand to present the film to often hilarious effect. It was quite a terrific evening, but i was a little put off by the unwelcoming security who had with them this sort of metal detector (also seen at airports). Nevertheless a brilliant day and a brilliant film. Review will follow in March!

[jeanelle]

Oh, I'd forgotten about the embargo. I loved it but the super-special 3D glasses hurt my nose.

(Good to see ejwrank, Mr G, tilly and husband too.)

[canadian_turtle]

You can write a review as long as you use #ThePirates, amiright?

Review without talking too much about the film:

Loved the free bar, the rum shots not so much. I got my picture taken with the pirates via the medium of the almighty green screen and my FMUK little sister. We got pirate-y chocolate coins (aaaarrrr!) and had delightful company.

Stop motion animation felt a bit shaky at times (maybe I should blame the alcohol?) and for some reason the 3D glasses really annoyed me this time around (kept falling off my nose and felt uncomfortable with my regular glasses), I would've probably enjoyed it more in 2D actually, and I did take off the glasses every once in a while.

I had really high expectation after the terrific Arthur Christmas and while Pirates! wans't at good, it certainly was enjoyable and had some very funny moments.

Oh and what an utterly fantastic voice cast! Yes, I'm looking at you Tennant, Tovey and Freeman.

8/10

[Celini]

you are not press... the embargo is only for full review by the press people

well, that was disappointing! I am very upset with the decision of making this movie a 3D feature! If only they had shot it in 3D (that should be doable with the stop-motion, right?) I would have undersatnd, but the average post-processing was utterly pointless... I actually watched the entire movie without 3D glasses. I did not properly count, but I think I was bothered just about 10-15 times by the ghosty picture (without 3D glasses!).
I came to wonder whether they knew it will be released in 3D when they shot it. Some scenes that should have been perfect for some full 3D shots were completely wasted: for example all the scenes when something come towards the screen (swords, barrels falling down the stairs...) came out relatively flat (I put the glasses back on for those "critical" scenes!)

I hate 3D! And in this case I think it completely kills the purpose of the stop-motion!

Apart from that, I guess it was alright, even though it was a bit all over the place. The characters were rather fun; the sets were very detailed and beautiful... but the thing that completely stole my heart was Polly the heavy-boned parrot! Adorable!

A fun family movie, but would recommend to watch it in 2D
7/10

edit:the soundtrack is really really good too!

[Beate]

The premiere is only in a month?

I was given some tickets for tonight's advance screening at Empire Leicester Square by the lovely bevvy, and we took cinefila1 along. They were taking phones away again and first wouldn't let us through with only our confirmation printouts (we didn't have the fancy cardboard tickets) but finally relented, so we were some of the first ones in. Most people crowded around the entertainment in the foyer, and I discovered they had crisps, nuts, tiny sandwich canapes in fish form and free drinks so got OH a Budweiser. Saw shmile, a_person, canadian_turtle, funthing29, weirdfilms33, ejwrank, jeancomp and MrG. I am sure there were others, but it's a big cinema! We got an introduction from some bigwigs who told us we are welcome to tweet using #thepirates, then Brian Blessed came on stage, trying to be funny.

#Thepirates was ok but wasn't as good as it should have been. The kid in front of us got bored and restless (the father was no better), so we were pretty glad when they left halfway through. The story was just silly but I didn't think it would be groundbreaking. I absolutely adore Wallace and Gromit, and while this has lots of lovely Aardman elements, it isn't as good imho, and hasn't as much heart as Arthur Christmas.

7/10

[Beate]

I concur about the glasses btw. They didn't sit properly and if you had them at a certain angle, they were totally useless. I too took them off now and then and some scenes were completely 2D and had no ghosting at all. So the 3D was an utter waste of time and just served in making the film darker.

[cinefila1]

Thanks to Beate I got to see the film tonight and met some lovely FMUKers. We managed to get in pretty early and got great seats (Beate and OH's favourites). There was a great atmosphere and lots of cheers coming from the audience as many of them had worked on the project.

I enjoyed the film, especially the hilarious antics of the manpanzee and his flashcards. I agree with others about the 3D glasses: they were the least comfortable I've ever tried. Could not get rid of them fast enough.

[weirdfilms33]

I absolutely love Brian Blessed and it was just fantastic to see him at the start - I nearly died at his mention of a Chinese takeaway. Completely astonished that you could get free rum shots in the foyer, though I didn't try one myself as of course I am underage. Great to see Beate there (and the random person that said hello and walked past) and many apologies to a_person for not recognising her immediately - I thought you were still in Rome. Sadly missed Mr. Glass. Obviously the review will come later - certainly one of the oddest things that's come out of Aardman, eh?

[tilly]

Also saw this film thanks to Jeancomp. Finally managed to meet sunnysaver(hope you like the books), nice to meet you. Also met theycallmemrglass, ejwrank and Jeancomp. Saw beate running for the exit on my way to the ladies ( you didn't spot me).

What a charming film, I had a smile throughout. After watching the trailer, I was expecting it to be funnier. Maybe shouldn't have watched the trailer. Still trying to find an animation that made me laugh as much as shrek did.It was a nice story and like others have mentioned I don't think you need to see this in 3d, not worth it.
7/10