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The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie

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ThePiratesWhoDon'tDoAnythingPoster
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
Directed by

Mike Nawrocki

Produced by

David Pitts
Paula Marcus
Phil Vischer
Mike Nawrocki

Written by

Phil Vischer

Music by

Kurt Heinecke

Distributed by

Universal Studios

Released

2007
(production year)
January 11, 2008
(theatrical release)
October 14, 2008
(home video release)

Runtime

85 minutes

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie is a 2008 American computer-animated family adventure comedy film directed by Mike Nawrocki, written by Phil Vischer, produced by Big Idea and Jam Filled Toronto and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the second theatrical film to feature characters from the VeggieTales video series following Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie in 2002.

The film was released on January 11, 2008, it received mixed reviews and was a box-office flop, grossing $13.2 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.

Plot

The film opens sometime in the late 17th century with two pirate ships fighting. The prince, Alexander of Monteria, is captured by Robert the Terrible, his ruthless uncle. The other pirates search the ship for the princess, Eloise, but miss her hiding spot and leave. When Eloise and her butler Willory emerge, she sends a device that her father made, a "Helpseeker," to find heroes to save Alexander. It evades the pirates on the ship and jumps into the sea.

The film jumps to the present where best friends George, Sedgewick, and Elliot are working at a pirate-themed dinner theater. Sedgewick, who is known to be very lazy, has invented a remote-controlled toy truck with a claw arm to help him do the things that he doesn't feel like doing - though when his girlfriend Ellen asks him to get her some barbecue sauce, it is out of range of his toy and he refuses to make the effort himself. Elliot is known to have many fears that he has a list of things he's afraid of, and when his girlfriend Bernadette asks him to get the barbecue sauce, he says the back room is dark and therefore "on his list." George, who lacks self-respect, does what everyone tells him; his children, George Jr and Lucy, idolize the star of the show, Sir Frederick and he is worried that he does not impress his kids.

Elliot, Sedgewick, and George want to be seen as heroes by their loved ones, but since they're only cabin boys, they think that their dream is unattainable. After the show, while they are cleaning up, an old blind man appears out of nowhere, prophesying that an adventure awaits for them and that "the stage is set for the heroes at hand." Elliot thinks this means that if they all audition, they'll be cast in the show. They audition but it backfires and messed up half of the restaurant; as a result they are fired and thrown into the alley, where they find the Helpseeker and are teleported to the 17th century.

Meeting Eloise and Willory, they set off to Jolly Joe's, a known pirate hang-out, where they learn it was Robert who kidnapped the prince in the hopes of exacting revenge on the king, Robert's brother. They also learn that the clues to find Robert's fortress are hidden in a cave past the Rocks of Malabar. They do find the clues there, but Sedgewick happens across what appears to be a pool of cheese curls, his favorite snack, and decides to stay on the island and relax instead of pursuing Robert. When George and Elliot return to the beach, they discover that Robert's men have taken their boat and captured Eloise and Willory. They head out to follow the clues: go east to the isle of walking rocks, and through the clapping pass.

Back in the cave, the cheese curls turn out to be alive... and vicious. Sedgewick is attacked and, in his desperation to escape being eaten by his own favorite food, discovers he can do anything without giving up. When George and Elliot get to the isle, the rocks, which are really large rock-monsters, start to surround them, but then Sedgewick arrives, having now swum across the ocean followed by the cheese curls. The rocks find the curls amusing and start to interact with them.

The pass opens and one of the rock-monsters helps them get through it. Within the hidden bay, they quickly find Robert's fortress, which is apparently unguarded, but a giant serpent attacks their ship. George and Sedgewick are terrified, but Elliot, overcoming his fear, realizes the guardian is actually just a mechanical device; when it "eats him," he is able to shut the machine down from inside and save his friends.

They rescue the prince and princess, with the help of Sedgewick's "labor-saving device," only to be stopped by Robert. Finding his self-respect at last, George uses a chandelier to knock Robert down. They escape through the fortress's cistern, with Robert in hot pursuit. Back in the bay, Robert's ship opens fire on the heroes, but the king shows up just in time, and Robert goes down with his ship.

The king gives them medals for their good work, reminding them that heroes aren't necessarily strong or handsome or dashing, but in fact anyone who does what he or she knows is right no how matter hard the situation. The Helpseeker returns them to the restaurant, just in time for the Friday night show, but Robert has stowed away on their trip back and attacks Sir Frederick, mistaking him for George. A final showdown with Robert sends him back to his own time. The audience cheers wildly, including their loved ones, and George's children respect him at last. Offered a second chance to be in the show, they refuse, saying that life has plenty of adventure of its own... as the Helpseeker blinks once again.

After the entire cast is credited, the cast sing and performs "Rock Monster", a parody of The B-52's' hit "Rock Lobster" (Including Robert and his henchmen who are arrested by the King for their crimes), closing the film. Once they're done singing and performing, Bob the Tomato finally makes his appearance, as the director.

Characters

  • Bob the Tomato
  • Larry the Cucumber (Elliot)
  • Archibald Asparagus (Willory)
  • Eloise
  • Prince Alexander
  • Robert the Terrible
  • Mr. Nezzer (Mr. Hibbing)
  • Mr. Lunt (Sedgewick)
  • Pa Grape (George)
  • Madame Blueberry
  • Charlie Pincher (Jolly Joe)
  • Scooter
  • Petunia Rhubarb (Bernadette)
  • Ellen
  • Jimmy Gourd (Sir Frederick)
  • George Jr.
  • Lucy
  • Caroline
  • Jean-Claude
  • Scooter
  • Walking Rocks
  • Scallion #1

Songs

History and Production

PirateFilmTimHodgeConceptArt

Tim Hodge's concept art.

After the production of Big Idea's first feature film was almost finished, Phil Vischer wanted to make another one. He originally wanted to make a film titled "The Bob and Larry Movie," where it would focus on how Bob and Larry met, and when they started VeggieTales. But this was scrapped because it involved humans and it was when the company was about to be in bankruptcy (Around the time Classic Media got the acquirements). Phil decided to write another film script involving the Pirates from the first film, since everyone seemed to like them. According to Tim Hodge, this idea came about late 2002, planned to be a direct-to-video release until Universal decided to distribute the film. Production started around 2005, with the animation was done by Jam Filled Toronto (formerly Arc Productions), unlike "Jonah," which was done in-house at Big Idea.

A lot of fans pointed out that the film is similar to the first Pirates of the Caribbean film by Disney. Phil Vischer stated that he actually had the idea for the film before "The Curse of the Black Pearl" was released. According to Phil, the film's inspiration was from "Three Amigos," with elements of "The Chronicles of Narnia," particularly "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Home media

It was first released on DVD on October 14, 2008 by Universal Studios. The film was reprinted by Universal in 2015.

Features

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie/Features

Trailer Appearances

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie/Trailer-Teaser Appearances

Other Languages

Fun Facts

Moral(s)

  • We don't feel like heroes sometimes. But if you put your trust in God and help others, you will.
  • Believe in yourself, even when things look dark or tough.

Explanations

  • Cardiac arrest is a sudden stop in effective blood circulation due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively or at all.

Trivia

  • This is the first Big Idea production that Joseph Sapulich worked on since Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler.
  • This is the last Big Idea project for a few things:
    • The last Big Idea production that Joseph Sapulich worked on.
    • The last project Jam Filled Toronto worked with Big Idea on.
      • This is also the second theatrical animated film Jam Filled provided animation services for, the first being Everyone's Hero in 2006.
  • This was the only VeggieTales movie to be released in Sweden, Albania, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Spain.
  • This is the last VeggieTales movie to be given a VHS release of some sort, due to the general death of the VHS format around the time of the movie's original release. However, this VeggieTales movie was only released on VHS as a screener.
  • This is one of Big Idea's only projects in which God is never mentioned, making the entire movie, plus songs in the credits, secular.
  • The film was originally going to be released in February of 2008, but was moved up to January of that year.
  • This is the only time where Pa's eyebrows and glasses are used for his pirate design.
  • There were a few differences between the pre-production and the final version of the film.
    • There was going to be a logo variation for Universal Pictures, featuring Bob instead of the globe. It was storyboarded, but was never animated.
    • The kingdom was originally going to be called Mauritania. This was changed after Universal discovered that it was a real country.
    • Eloise was originally going to be played by Laura Carrot. This was changed after Tim Hodge decided she couldn't carry an entire film visually.
    • "Somewhere in the present" was going to be "Somewhere last week." This was changed because they didn't want to confuse viewers about time.
    • Originally, there was a scene with Bob, who is driving a bus to the nursing home, calling out the blind man that it's time for him to leave the restaurant. However, this was cut because of time.
    • Robert's scene after the Pirates meet Eloise was added so it didn't feel as if the film had forgotten about him.
    • The wheel in the cistern was going to be a lever, but was changed because viewers would get confused if that was the lever the prophecy meant.
    • According to storyboards by Tim Hodge, Larry was originally not going to have facial hair.
    • The Helpseeker at the end of the film was going to be a different shape.
  • According to producer Paula Marcus, Tim Hodge made storyboards of some characters being sliced by swords.
  • This is the first non-musical VeggieTales production.
  • During production, Universal demanded that Pa Grape and Mr. Lunt be given eyes. However, Phil Vischer explained to them that they didn't need any.
  • This is the second work of Big Idea to have a descriptive audio track, with a voiceover describing everything happening on the screen. The track was produced by Deluxe Entertainment with funding from Universal, and was narrated by Chinese voice actor Kaiji Tang, the first being Jonah.
  • This is the first (and only) VeggieTales movie to not feature Bob the Tomato. However, at the end of the movie, he does appear at the end of Rock Monster as the director.
  • This movie ranks the most dubs out of anything made by Big Idea.
  • After the credits, one of the evil cheese curls appears and screams as the camera zoom into his mouth, ending on a black screen.

Remarks

  • The scene where George says "There's something you don't see everyday," is at daytime in the second teaser trailer. The scene in the actual movie is instead at nighttime.
  • The credits state the copyright date for the film 2007, although it didn't release until January 2008.
  • Even though the Georgian voiceover is called "მეკობრეების თავგადასავალი ბოსტნეულობის ქვეყანაში 2," there was no "მეკობრეების თავგადასავალი ბოსტნეულობის ქვეყანაში."
  • There is no Korean dub of the film; however, the book does exist in Korean.

Inside References

Real-World References

  • TiVo is an American company who were known for their digital video recorders, introduced in 1999.
  • The Weather Channel is an American cable and satellite channel.
  • Edward Scissorhands is the title character from the film with the same name.
  • The scene with the Cheese Curl monsters crawling out of the hole was inspired by the first Mummy film in 1999.
    • Phil Vischer states it's also a reference to the Lord of the Rings films where the goblins come out of the columns.
  • The way the Serpent ate Elliot but he then shut it down inside then came out of the Serpent is similar to how Timmy was eaten by Decimator Goddard until getting shut down in "Jimmy Timmy Power Hour"
  • The Helpseeker, being an intricately crafted metal sphere that appears to guide the heroes, may be a reference to the Liahona. The liahona is an object that appears in the Book of Mormon, the sacred text of the Mormonism/Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints branch of christianity
  • "Say hello to my little friend!" is a quote from "Scarface."

Fast Forward

Commentaries

Transcript

Credits

Gallery

Screenshot 2023-03-20 11.39.51 PM

External links

VeggieTales episodes
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