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

Righteous and garden-fresh

By TOM MEEK | January 16, 2008

2.0 Stars

Pirate veggies

From the Bible-hugging brain trust at Big Idea Productions comes another do-the-right-thing morality tale for kids. It’s less religious than 2002’s Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, but no less righteous. A trio of animated veggies — a gourd, a grape, and a cucumber who work in a pirate-themed dinner theater — are transported back in time to battle a real pirate and save a kidnapped princess. They’re summoned across the ages by a “hero finder,” but they often doubt their abilities as heroes. The animation of filmmakers Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki is crisp, and so is the cheeky dialogue, though the “Keep the faith” and “Never give up” mantras get didactic. Most of that’s forgiven, however, when our garden-fresh threesome encounter a herd of predatory Cheetos and subsequently land on an isle of playful walking stones. The Ents in The Lord of the Rings have nothing on these rocks. 85 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs

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