Posted on September 19, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Celebrate “Talk Like a Pirate Day” with a look at this delightful sketch from “Saturday Night Live” with Peter Sarsgaard visiting a Pirate’s Convention and finally figuring out why they really wanted him to be there.
And don’t forget the delightfully piratical Tim Curry in “Muppet Treasure Island:”
Posted on September 19, 2008 at 8:28 am
Arrrrrrrrrrr! Avast me hearties, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day! If you have not read the classic Dave Barry tribute to this most wonderfully silly of holidays, you are in for a treat.
And what better way to celebrate than with some great pirate movies!
1. The Pirates of Penzance
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Shipwrecked
4. Peter Pan
5. Captain Blood
Posted on July 7, 2008 at 8:00 am
B+| Lowest Recommended Age: | Kindergarten - 3rd Grade |
| MPAA Rating: | PG |
| Profanity: | None |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Sailors drink ale in tavern, tease Hakon about drinking milk, which he handles very well |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Lead characters in exciting peril several times |
| Diversity Issues: | Mary is an especially spirited and resourceful heroine |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 1991 |
A Norwegian boy named Hakon (Stian Smestad) is being pushed around by some bullies. He warns them that his father will take care of them when he gets back from sea, and they tell him his father owes so much money he should never come home. But his father does come home, with an injured leg, and with Jens, the man who saved his life. Hakon does not want to go to sea in his place, but when the family risks losing their home, he goes. Jens promises to look after him.
The stern captain tells him, “There is no room for children aboard this ship,” and the crew initiates him by hanging him from the mast, but he watches, learns, works hard, and soon fits in well. At the first port, the captain tells him he has passed muster, and can stay on for the entire voyage. They are joined by a new First Mate — Howell. We know what the captain and Hakon do not — it is a murderer named Merrick passing as Howell. Hakon discovers guns in a crate marked “glass.” Merrick tells him it is a secret. Just as Hakon is about to tell the captain, the captain falls ill — poisoned by one of Merrick’s accomplices. The captain dies and is buried at sea. Merrick takes over.
At the next port, a brave young girl named Mary stows away. Hakon discovers her, and brings her food. She teaches him to read, using a book of Coleridge poetry. When Merrick discovers her, Jens confesses to protect Hakon. Hakon tells Merrick that it was his fault, and Merrick orders Jens to whip Hakon. But just then, the ship is struck by lightning and sinks. Hakon is washed up on an island, where he discovers pirate treasure–and a newspaper clipping with a drawing of Merrick, leader of the pirates. Hakon knows Merrick will come for the treasure, and sets up elaborate booby traps all over the island. Seeing smoke on another island, he builds a small boat, and explores it. He finds Mary and Jens, living with friendly natives. They return to Hakon’s island, just before the pirates come to get the treasure. Between the traps and Mary’s liberation of the ship, they manage to get away with the treasure, and return to Hakon’s home in triumph.
Neglected on its release, this is an exciting adventure, and a lot of fun to watch. Hakon does a lot of growing up. At the beginning he is a young boy who can only fight bullies by telling them to wait for his father. At the end he is a young man who is confident of his ability to protect himself.
Questions for Kids:
· How does Hakon decide whether to tell the captain about the guns he found?
· Why does Jens say that it was he who hid Mary?
· Why does Hakon tell the truth?
· Which part of the movie was the scariest? Which part was the funniest?
Connections: The booby traps on the island are reminiscent of the invasion of the pirates in “The Swiss Family Robinson,” and of course “Home Alone.”
Activities: Find Norway on a map and see if you can chart the course Hakon followed. You might also enjoy reading the Coleridge poem Hakon likes, “Kubla Khan.” Even if it is hard to follow, the language and rhythms are a pleasure to the ear and tongue. And it provides a good beginning for a discussion of dream or ideal places. The “pleasure dome” inhabited by “Citizen Kane” is named Xanadu, a reference to this poem.
Posted on May 21, 2007 at 4:14 pm
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | 4th - 6th Grades |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence and some frightening images. |
| Profanity: | Pirate-talk |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Constant action-style violence, some grisly (with macabre comedy), characters injured, killed, impaled, some very graphic images |
| Diversity Issues: | Strong female and minority characters |
| Date Released to Theaters: | 2007 |
| Date Released to DVD: | December 4, 2007 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B004DTLK80 |
Even in a summer blockbuster, sometimes less is more.
Especially when it comes to the story. They throw in so many plots, so many battles, so many tonal shifts, so many characters, and ultimately so many Captain Jack Sparrows that it is clear they are hoping we won’t notice that it really is something of a mess.
It’s a very entertaining mess, though. Like the first two in the series, this ostensible last chapter is filled with visual sumptuousness and splendor, inspired by the classic illustrations of Howard Pyle. Every splintering floorboard, every barnacle, every piece of eight, every skittering crab, every cannon, is brilliantly imaginative. The action sequences are a marvel as well. Though nothing reaches the level of the sensational swordfight on a rolling mill wheel in #2, there are plenty of swashbuckling set-pieces to keep pulses pounding.
That sneery Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander) is after the pirates again, and the only way for Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightly) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to stay alive is to get something that Beckett wants very badly from pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who was last seen being consumed by a monster and must now be rescued from an existential crisis in a sort of metaphysical desert at the end of the world.
Lovebirds Will and Elizabeth are each hiding secrets that will test their love and their trust. Sparrow and the formerly dead Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), brought back to life by Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), are on hand to help retrieve Sparrow and bring together all of the pirate kings to battle Beckett, now working with squid-faced Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).
Or something like that. It’s very hard to keep track of who is on which side at any given moment, not to mention which ship we’re on or which body of water we’re in at any given moment. Or who knows which secrets or even who is dead, formerly dead, un-dead, or ferrying the dead.
The problem is not the incomprehensibility of the plot; it has been conclusively proven that coherence is not necessary in a summer explosion movie and may even be a distraction. The problem is the tonal shifts; at the same time the movie asks us to care enough about its characters to accept some bittersweet, even tragic outcomes, it throws in some references to suspension of civil rights in wartime (hmmm), and then it also pushes the limits of po-mo ironic self-consciousness with over-the-top in-jokes, silliness about whose, um, telescope is bigger, and a mid-battle wedding ceremony with “I dos” in between ripostes (both literal and metaphoric). This movie’s tongue is pushed so far into its cheek that it could reach Davy Jones’ locker. In the midst of all the visual treats, the movie both takes itself too seriously and not seriously enough. The combination feels sour and overheated, purloining some of the fun that kept the first two so dazzlingly buoyant.
Parents should know that like the other two in the series, this one is filled with non-stop action-style violence, including many fights with swords, guns, hangings, cannons and explosives. Characters are injured and killed, including two who are impaled and some executions. There are macabre and gross-out images. Characters use some salty pirate language and drink rum. There are some mildly ribald comments and some kisses. A strength of the movie is the portrayal of strong female and minority characters. It is also worth noting that this film’s language is slightly less salty than its predecessors and that it is subtly but clearly shown that the main characters wait until they are married to do anything more than kiss.
Families who see this movie should talk about the issues of trust and betrayal. They might also want to talk about how the film-makers made the pirates the good guys by making the people on the other side even worse.
Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the earlier episodes, Dead Man’s Chest
