My Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits (8/10)

¨You´ll see I will be Pirate of the Year! And then you´ll be laughing on the other side of your faces.¨

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie as I was catching up with the nominated animation films. I hadn’t really heard of it before the nominations, but was glad it received the recognition it got because this really is a fun and silly movie that the entire family can enjoy. My favorite animated film of the year continues to be Wreck-it Ralph, but this is still much better than Pixar´s Brave. The Pirates is one of those rare animated movies that will appeal to a diverse audience thanks to the subtle and clever jokes and puns that the British have us all familiar with. The animation is very detailed and skillful here considering this isn’t a computer generated animated movie; it´s stop-motion and was produced by Aardman, the same production company that brought us such great animated films as Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. Directors Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt also worked in Chicken Run; and in my opinion have perfected their craft here. You can´t make a movie about pirates without having some sort of exciting adventure, and this movie delivers a real fun and clever adventure that adults and kids will enjoy alike. It has the typical silly and dry British humor that we all love so much. The screenplay was adapted by Gideon Defoe from his own novels about the pirates. I had a really fun time with all the jokes and puns, and really loved these funny characters. They were as luxuriant as the Pirate Captain´s beard.

The Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) dreams of becoming Pirate of the Year but has failed to do so for the past twenty years as he isn’t considered one of the favorites to take home the prize. His crew loves him and remains faithful to him, but are as quirky as he is and are not taken seriously by other pirates. The favorites are always Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven), Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek), and Peg Leg Hastings (Lenny Henry) who have a great amount of booty and treasures. The Pirate Captain knows that in order to win the prize he will need to find a great treasure so he begins his quest with his crew by raiding several ships unsuccessfully. Right when he´s about to give up, the Pirate Captain encounters a ship where a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant) discovers that his beloved pet, Polly, is not actually a parrot, but a rare bird that was thought to have been extinct decades ago. He convinces the Pirate Captain to travel to London with the dodo where he promises him great riches for his discovery, but Charles has a hidden agenda of his own and everything is not what it seems. The Pirate Captain´s Second Assistant (Martin Freeman) warns him about the dangers of traveling to London, but he insists on finding these riches. In London, the Pirate Captain and his crew must avoid being discovered as pirates because Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) is known for hating pirates. Thus the adventure begins. Arrr.

This is the first time Hugh Grant voices an animated character, but he does it masterfully creating one of the most enthusiastic and beloved characters of the movie. David Tennant, Martin Freeman and Imelda Staunton all stand out in this film, but Salma Hayek, Jeremy Piven, and Lenny Henry really don´t have much screen time here. I really had a fun time with this stop-motion animated film and laughed several times at the clever gags and jokes. I hope more people get to watch this fun adventure because it is a movie that the entire family can enjoy and that is just a commodity that is rare to find these days. So if you have the opportunity to see this don’t hesitate and check it out.

    

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My Review: Fright Night (6/10)

¨Hey, guy. You've been watching me. I've been watching you.¨

Fright Night is a remake of the 1985 cult classic film of the same name which was written and directed by Tom Holland (known for several 80`s and 90`s horror flicks including Child`s Play and the TV series Tales from the Crypt). Some people don`t like the fact that these classic movies are being remade, but if done well it can work because a new generation that would`ve probably never seen the original can now be familiar with it. Director Craig Gillespie does a great job at adapting the story and bringing it to the big screen once again. He makes a few touches here and there, but the main idea is still there and there is even a cameo from Chris Sarandon (the actor that played the vampire in the first movie). Some of the most memorable lines from the original movie are also included here. Gillespie takes an entirely different approach than he did with his first film, Lars and the Real Girl, but he makes a decent horror/comedy film which stays true to the original so I think fans of that movie won`t be disappointed with this. Fright Night is much better than most horror films we`ve seen lately, although there isn`t as much scares as there are funny moments. The film is lifted by some strong performances from Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Anton Yelchin, and Imogen Poots. The other positive thing about Fright Night is that Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer, Marti Noxon, was involved in the adaptation of the screenplay which is pretty slick and funny.

Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) is probably having the best year of his life. He seems to have been accepted with the cool group of his High School and is dating one of the hottest girls in school, Amy (Imogen Poots). Charley is having a great time with his new friends and tries to ignore his old geek buddy Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) as much as he can, but Ed is worried about some mysterious disappearances in the Las Vegas neighborhood and tells Charley that his new neighbor, Jerry (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. Ed has been spying on Jerry and has discovered his secret, but Charley doesn`t believe him at first until he sees things on his own. Charley warns his mother, Jane (Toni Collette), not to trust Jerry and under any circumstance invite him into the house, but Jane thinks he is just being a jealous son and ignores him at first. Jerry realizes that Charley is on to him and threatens him and his girlfriend. Charley decides it`s time to face Jerry and end his 400 year life. In order to do so he enlists the help of Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a Vegas performer who claims to be a Vampire slayer, but of course this is all just a gimmick. Vincent believes Charley is crazy at first, but he soon will find out the truth about Jerry, and discover some things about his own past.

Beside the fact that Colin Farrell delivers a perfect performance as Jerry the vampire, the other thing that Fright Night has going for it is that it has a clever and funny script. There are few scares; the movie knows it works best as a comedy in the same way that Zombieland had success making fun of its zombies. This time the jokes are about vampires and of course all the legends about the crucifixes, the stakes to the heart, and the need to ask for permission to enter a house aren`t ignored here. This last element taken from the very successful vampire Swedish film Let the Right One In (which in my humble opinion is the best vampire film ever). It also manages to make fun of Twilight whenever given the chance claiming that vampires aren`t sentimental and even makes references to that movie. Colin Farrell is the star of the film, but the rest of the actors also did a great job. Anton Yelchin is a good actor and he nails his role with his charming innocence. Toni Collette looks great playing her mother, and Imogen Poots is much more than the typical dumb blonde. Christopher Mintz-Plasse and David Tennant are responsible for most of the laughs of the film and the funny moments. The movie is well made, it`s clever, entertaining, I just wish it would`ve been scarier. The effects are pretty well done and there`s also plenty of blood for gore fans. Despite everything the movie has going for it, I don`t think I would`ve enjoyed it as much if it weren’t for Colin Farrell. He lifts this movie and makes it worth seeing. Fright Night isn`t a great movie, but it`s worth a watch.

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