There’s no way Pirates was ever going to be as funny as the riotous source material, its inherent anarchy sitting ill at ease with the author’s attempt to conform it to a kid-friendly narrative for the Caribbean generation. Case in point, the genius of:

Journal of Charles Darwin. Day 93 aboard the Beagle. I have today discovered a new kind of barnacle, which I have categorised in the order of Pygophora …I’ll never get a girlfriend. I am so unhappy.

…drudgingly followed up as key plot point. Regardless, the gags alone are worth the voyage, and the Aardman animation is undoubtedly luxuriant.