Pirate's Passage

My husband and I happened upon this movie this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it! The animation is good and the pirate storyline was really well written! Great for the whole family!

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this movie and the animation reminded me of all the Don Bluth movies I watched as kid like Secret of Nimh and the American Tail films. It was mysterious and interesting enough to hold my 6, 9, and 10 year-olds, but I should have known things were going to get gritty after the first "damn" reference in the first 5 minutes. I hung in there with my kids until one of my kids finally complained about the language and I knew I had made the wrong choice. I wished there had been more kid- friendly reviews when I was researching this and I actually created an IMDb account just so I could edit the Parental Guide and help some other parents make a more informed decision than I did. It's sad when you have great voice talents and an interesting story ruined by language that should not be in an animated movie. Mind you Netflix had this rated for ages 7-10. I will be more cautious about their guidance in the future. If not, for the unnecessary language, I would have made it through more than half of it.

I liked this movie a lot, but there were some things that I thought deserved to be explained more (e.g., why did Meg have such a chip on her shoulder and why was bringing an American auto to Nova Scotia through Newfoundland considered smuggling?), so I bought and read the novel "Pirate's Passage" by William Gilkerson, upon which the movie was based.

After reading the novel I would say that the movie was inspired by, rather than based on the book, as the main characters are the same, but the plots are much different. The book gives sufficient back story for Meg for the reader to understand the chip on her shoulder. The auto does not even occur in the book. I thought that the plot of the book was far better than that of the movie, so if you liked the movie you should read the book.

We had a bunch of indie movies to check out on our Netflix watch list and I was passively thinning them out while working. I started this one and got hooked a few minutes in. By the end, I'm glad the kids weren't around, but I quite enjoyed it.

It's done in a 2D CG animation that seems a little cheap, but done well enough to still look good. The art is still well done, I love the character designs, it very much feels like a labor of love.

The story was interesting as well, I look forward to finding the book as I hear the movie is only loosely based on it. It had enough depth to keep me guessing, but I was able to guess a few plot points (which is my favorite balance for a movie).

As for content, it's mostly the language that I wouldn't want the kids to hear. The parental advisory covers most of it, the lady also uses the word 'bastard' once. I think the themes are a little complex for kids too. It is pirate themed after all. It defends the "honest" pirates that only steal and do minimum damage to get what they need, or breaking the law to accomplish what needs to be done. Thankfully the kid in the story still tries to do what's right without going around the law.

I'd definitely watch it again, and I think it's worth at least seeing it once.

This movie started off with a lot of promise. The animation is lovely at times. But the movie is really really dreadfully slow. It's just this old guy who kinda has these whimsical comments to this kid - and I guess they sorta go back in time or something and see some pirate stuff? Mostly the film is a close up of the Donald Sutherland character. Then there is this business tycoon is like a real life pirate but he's not a pirate he's just some guy? I dunno. I fell asleep.