The Pirates! Band Of Misfits

After a couple of struggles, Aardman animation is making a come back. This is their second film in six months and they return to the style of animation that made them famous, stop-motion.

As many of you know my favourite form of animation is stop-motion. I admire these artists who can take the time to pain-stakingly move these models one frame at a time to create a movie. I think it is amazing. So in some ways I am a little biased when it comes to films like this. With the success of the 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' series, I am surprised that we have not seen more attempts to make a pirate movie. But then again working on water can prove to be very expensive, so I think doing an animated film is more economical.

What I love most about the Aardman films is their distinctly English sense of humour. I have always loved English comedy and Aardman are some of the best that there is. What I loved most about this film is the little things. While there are many big gags, there are so many little ones that I think made me laugh more than the big ones. It is not just the small things in the background but small things characters do which amused me. I was quite pleased that many of the most amusing moments from the book have made it into the film. The book's author Gideon Defoe has brought the true spirit and silliness of his novel to the movie. As usual the animation is visually stunning. Peter Lord and his team have created some brilliant looking action scenes which must be seen on the big screen and in 3D. There is one scene with a whale which took my breath away.

I'm not sure why this is Hugh Grant's first time doing the voice for an animated film because he is brilliant at it. We all know he is a gifted comedic actor in a visual sense but he can be equally as funny with just his voice. You don't know it is Hugh speaking so only see him as The Pirate Captain which is the success of all good vocal artists. Martin Freeman is wonderful as always in his usual second in command role. The brilliant Imelda Staunton is hilarious as Queen Victoria. David Tennant is delightful as Charles Darwin. There are also a couple of great cameo appearances from Jeremy Pivan and Salma Hayek.

Not only the year's best animated film but one of the year's best films so far. Make sure you see this film on the big screen and in 3D.