Piet Pirate and the Flying Ship (2006)

Directed by: Bart van Leemputten | 61 minutes | family, adventure | Actors: Peter Vandevelde, Anke Helsen, Dirk van Vooren, Dirk Bosschaert, Vivienne van den Assem, Kathleen Aerts, Karen Damen, Kristel Verbeke

While the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies entertain adults, ‘Piet Piraat’ conquers the hearts of children with the TV series and the movie. Pirates are popular and children love Piet and his friends. That is why Piet Piraat, Stien Struis, Berend Bokkenpap and Steven Stil return in a new film adventure, this time not about an enchanted crown, but a flying ship. All the wind in your sails!

The crew of the ‘Scheve Schuit’ sails at night against a large, old ship with stone statues. It turns out to be the “Waky Whale”, the ship of the beautiful Marylin. Marylin is played by the beautiful Vivienne van den Assem from ‘ZOOP’. To bring Marylin and her crew back to life, Piet (Peter van de Velde), Steven (Dirk van Vooren) and Berend (Dirk Bosschaert) go to Oestereiland where they have to get a blue pearl. Stien (Anke Helsen) stays on the ship to keep an eye on things. She is jealous and afraid that Marylin will take her friends away. On the island, the pirates encounter three talking and singing carnivorous plants…a thousand plates of porridge! Those voices were recorded by none other than the girls K3, just like Piet Piraat from Studio 100.

It is striking that there are fewer songs in this part than in ‘Piet Piraat en de Betoverde Kroon’ (2005). But the slapstick humor is again fully present, especially with that clapping giant oyster. Every now and then you can see very clearly that the background is fake like when leaving Oyster Island. But the images of the ships at sunset are again very beautiful. This time in the story, in addition to action, humor and adventure, there are also more things such as friendship, jealousy and infatuation. The film seems to be intended for the children who already follow Piet Piraat. For ‘newbies’ it will take some getting used to, because you are immediately plunged into the adventure.

The stone statue of the sturdy pirate captain does not resemble the lifelike Marylin and the Dutch accent of Vivienne van den Assem stands out among that of her Flemish co-actors. But the kids won’t even notice this. They will be drawn into this imaginative adventure about blue pearls, stone carvings, the rainbow and the pirate life. Ship Ahoy!