The most notable asset of 'Pirates in Callao' is that it marked a first in Peru as the first Peruvian computer animation. For a first effort 'Pirates in Callao' certainly could have been far worse and of the Eduardo Schult-directed animations it is by quite some way the best (the others seen are 'Fantastic Force', aka 'The Illusionauts', and 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer', both awful).
With that being said, 'Pirates in Callao', when seeing it online in Spanish, is still not a good film. Credit is due for sticking to its roots and including some interesting South American history and heritage, some knowledge of it may help and it will go over the heads of some but to me it was actually pretty interesting. The music was not as discordant as expected and is far more dynamic than that for 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer', and there is the odd nice colour.
However, most of the animation is really not great, though it is more forgivable than the far cheaper looks of 'Fantastic Force' and especially 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer' because it was a first effort. On the most part, cheap video games from the 90s look better and more refined, most of the colouring is flat and dull, the characters are plastic and look stiff and unnatural within their surroundings, the backgrounds are static and sparse in detail and the attention to detail is at best sloppy.
Apart from a few intriguing moments with the history, the writing is poor, clunking even more than when cutlery falls on a tiled floor and many parts sound awkward and childish. The story is a dull, block of thin ice-flimsy and over-stuffed mess, like being cooked a sloppily put together dinner that looks unappetising and underwhelms in taste. Interesting idea, and doesn't have as big target audience problems as Schult's other animations (especially 'The Dolphin: Story of a Dreamer') but executed in a way that runs out of puff far too early.
It has a less than cracking or lively pace (often too dull and stretched) and contains too many been there done that ideas jumped to with not much rhythm or reason constantly and tossed together in a un-tantalising jumble. Saw no need for the romance, which may creep some out, or the ending dance party sequence which epitomised running out of ideas. 'Pirates in Callao' is a very short length but the story really struggles to fill it.
Characters are bland and the voice acting is at best uninspired.
Overall, very ho hum and not much fun. 3/10 Bethany Cox
