Hugh Grant is the voice of the Pirate Captain in this animation movie. Each year the pirates have a contest to see who is the greatest pirate of them all, based on the amount of plunder they have taken. The Pirate Captain wants to become Pirate of the Year and beat his arch enemy Black Bellamy (with the voice of Jeremy Piven) who always seems to win, but the Priate Captain and his crew are not doing very well at finding treasure or ships to capture. About to give up, the Pirate Captain tells his first mate, the character called Pirate With a Scarf (with the voice of Martin Freeman), that he is going to sell baby clothes for a living instead, but the Pirate With a Scarf convinces him to try to capture just one more ship.
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They come upon a ship and board it. It is the Beagle and it does not contain any treasure just Charles Darwin who they take prisoner. Darwin (with the voice of David Tennant) notices that the Pirate Captain has the last remaining Dodo bird in the world as a pet he calls "Polly". He tells the Pirate Captain that if he takes this bird back to England he will win Scientist of the Year and get a big prize. They head to London. As they arrive they see many signs warning that Queen Victoria (with the voice of Imelda Staunton) hates pirates, so they disguise themselves as scientists in order to be able to sneak into London, and enter the Dodo bird in the Scientist of the Year contest held at the Royal Academy. Darwin tries to steal the Dodo bird with the help of his pet monkey Mr. Bobo because he is infatuated with Queen Victoria and he wants to get her attention. But Darwin's plan fails and the Pirate Captain enters the bird in the contest himself.
The Pirate Captain is disappointed when he wins first prize as Scientist of the Year, but the prize in only a tiny trophy and a set of encyclopedias. At the ceremony he lets it slip that he is a pirate. The Queen wants the Dodo bird so she pardons the Pirate Captain and gives him a lot of money for the bird. The Pirate Captain and his crew sail off to the Pirate of the Year award ceremony, which at first he is certain to win until it is discovered that the Queen has given him a pardon. This discredits him as a pirate. He is stripped of all his money and has his pirate license taken away.
Despondent, he returns to London to sell baby clothes where he meets up with Darwin once again. Darwin tells him that the Queen is planning to eat the Dodo bird because she belongs to a club of rich people that eat rare animals. They find a way to sneak onto the queen's ship and steal back the Dodo bird with the help of Mr. Bobo. They sink the queen's ship and she puts a large bounty on his head, so the Pirate Captain is back in favor with all the other pirates once again.
Best part of story, including ending:
One of the funniest things about this movie are the unusual names of the pirates, such as the Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate, and the Pirate Who Likes Sunsets and Kittens.
Best scene in story:
When it is revealed at the tavern that the Pirate Captain has hidden the Dodo bird but putting it inside his beard. It is funny there is enough room inside his beard to hide the bird.
Opinion about the main character:
The main character is not really a very good pirate and would probably be better suited selling baby clothes, but his idiocy is what makes him so funny.
