The Boy and the Pirates (1960)

Information

Siskoid
For a Bert I. Gordon flick, The Boy and the Pirates is pretty competent (I realize the bar is not very high), sometimes even inventive. What it isn't is particularly exciting. It's strictly a kids' fantasy adventure, when a little boy who loves pirate stories is whisked to Blackbeard's ship by a naughty genie (who sticks around to cause all sorts of mischief, wherein the moments of invention lie) and tries his best to get home before he's stranded in the past. It's a lot like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, actually, only the damsel is also like 7 years old, and the anachronistic tech is pretty much relegated to bubble gum, a gag that goes on way too long. While a movie for kids, it often lacks kid-friendly energy, going limp whenever there's a bit of action to be had (obligatory broadsides and sword fights fail to inspire), and parents today might raise an eyebrow at the occasional, and tonally iffy, violence. For pirate film and/or time travel completists only once you're past the target age. 3 years 7 months ago