The talented group of artists at Aardman are back at work on a new feature film and they’ve left Wallace and Gromit at home for the time being as this time they take to the high seas with The Pirates! Band of Misfits featuring an all-star voice cast that includes Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Brendan Gleeson and Ashley Jensen.
The story centers on Pirate Captain (Grant), a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Freeman, Gleeson, Tovey and Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they battle a diabolical queen (Staunton) and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist (Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!
The film is set to hit theaters in 3D on March 30, 2012 so you still have some time to prepare, but I have a feeling Pixar’s Brave has some Oscar competition next year as Aardman will surely hope to repeat their 2006 success when Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
