The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Over the years, there have many instances in which the ideas of evolution/millions of years have been found in Hollywood movies. Here is a recent example, as shown in a movie review written by two AiG staff members, Jeremy Ham and Tim Chaffey:

The character of Charles Darwin is featured in the animated film, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which was recently release on Blu-ray and DVD.

Pirates is rated PG for “mild action, rude humor and some language,” and it certainly lived up to those descriptions. Because this is not a comprehensive film review, we encourage you to find in-depth reviews about the film before you determine whether to see it or not (such as this one). The film was made by Aardman Studios, the same company that developed Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, and Flushed Away. Aardman’s distinct “claymation" style has certainly received a technological upgrade in this latest effort.

We weren’t sure what to expect, having heard conflicting reports about the amount of evolutionary content in the film. There were a handful of distinct allusions to evolution. One instance occurred when Charles Darwin was introduced. The camera panned across several creatures in an evolutionary order from “simple” to more complex creatures, ending with a chimp and then Darwin striking a similar pose. Later in the film, the protagonist, Pirate Captain, looked at Charles Darwin and his pet chimp named Bobo, and asked if the two were related.

We were quite surprised that Darwin was treated with some degree of ridicule. He was portrayed as a sniveling little man desperate to find a girlfriend—even being willing to steal fame and fortune from Pirate Captain to accomplish that goal.

There was one ironic scene near the end of the movie. When it looked like the bad guys were going to win, Pirate Captain came up with a plan to which Darwin brings up the overwhelming odds, stating it is impossible to succeed. Pirate Captain stated that “It’s only impossible if you stop to think about it.” Spoiler alert: Of course, Pirate Captain was ultimately right, and they did succeed with their plan.

Incidentally, around the time the movie was being shown in theaters, AiG ran a front page web feature on the topic of the odds of evolution being impossible. Evolutionists, of course, need billions of years to try to convince people that given this incomprehensible amount of time, molecules-to-man evolution could happen. Of course, it does not matter how many supposed billions of years they have; evolution in the sense of molecules to man is impossible. So was this scene endorsing or denying this criticism of evolution, or was this possible connection unintentional?

Evolution is being promoted more than ever in this secular culture, and we find the topic being endorsed throughout the media industry. This movie seemed to be different than most, having a relatively unclear and mixed message on evolution—at times the idea was pushed, but the movie also made fun of it

If any of your friends did see this movie, you could do your best using the references to evolution in the movie to teach your friends and family about biblical authority—God’s Word vs. man’s word. Help them understand that the Bible gives the true account of history, allowing no room for molecules-to-man evolution or millions of years. Show them clearly (using creation apologetics) that we can trust the Bible in its history in Genesis, and more importantly, we can trust its vital message of salvation that is based in that history.

Ken