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 Based on the best ride the Magic Kingdom has to offer -- and, no, we're not talking about the Mad Tea Party -- PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL tries to revive the moribund action genre of the swashbuckler, but only party succeeds. While it is at times a rousing piece of well-considered craftsmanship, it is at others ever-so-slightly yawn inducing.The film is amiably clunky. Involving a ship crewed by cursed pirates, a wacky pirate captain with a permanent case of sunstroke (played with surprising verve by Johnny Depp), an unspoken love affair between a blacksmith and a provincial governor's daughter, and much more, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN barely has time to take a breath, let alone establish much coherence. Director Gore Verbinski and his screenwriters want to hit every pirate movie element there is, so the movie is packed to the waterline with sword fights, guys swinging around on ropes, daring feats of nautical cleverness, romance, animated skeletons, piles of treasure, and so on and so on. For the most part it doesn't really matter that it all doesn't fit together particularly well, but occasionally the film drags as it attempts to juggle all the various balls it has in the air. What's surprising about PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN isn't that it was made at all -- a movie based on a theme park ride? -- but that it's as good as it is. The film is quite engaging, and features top-quality production values. The ships look fantastic, the cast is uniformly excellent, and the filmmakers clearly know what they're doing behind the camera. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN could have been a hollow exercise in marketing, but it's actually quite a lot of fun. Though Johnny Depp is featured prominently on the posters for PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, he's not really the star. Rather, Depp's character of Captain Jack Swallow is the film's comic relief. True, he gets a great deal more screen time than most such characters do, but he's still a peripheral figure and secondary to the plot of the movie. Orlando Bloom, fresh from his turn as Legolas in THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, and Keira Knightley (recently seen in BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) are the real stars of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. Bloom plays a lovestruck swordsmith, and pursues the kidnapped governor's daughter played by Knightley. Together they form the core of the film's story, with Bloom handling the flashy sword work and Knightley demonstrating a decidedly Maureen O'Hara-like spunk. There's more in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN than just Bloom and Knightley's plotline. Director Verbinski seems enthralled with the craggy lines of Geoffrey Rush's villainous face as the evil pirate Captain Barbossa, and the script also becomes distracted with lengthy sequences involving the bad guys. It's during these extended scenes that PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN suffers from its worst pacing problems. A climactic battle involving dozens of animated skeletons and a crew of British sailors seems to go on forever. But for all its faults, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is still good fun. While it may not be a return to the days of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks, it's at least at cut in the right direction.
Also, kudos to the wonderful pirate music. It's bold and majestic and fits the movie very well. I highly recommend the soundtrack; the movie is a masterpiece all on its own.
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The first time I saw this movie, my eyes were glued to the screen. It made me laugh, and made me lean forward with anticipation. Johhny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is hilarious! His sarcastic remarks and crazy antics are enough to make even the most solemn of viewers chuckle. The swordfighting, and the scenes with the Black Pearl and the Interceptor will have you biting your nails. No matter what you like in a movie, Pirates of the Caribbean has it all. From humor, to action, to romance, you're sure to find something that enthralls you.
I understand a lot of people feel this movie will be good because of the actors. What people don't understand is that just because there are good actors in a film, doesn't mean that the film will necessarily be good. I think that the movie has gained lots of hype partially due to the fact that Orlando Bloom is in it. Excuse me, but just because he may be attractive(I, personally, like men like Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean, big tough guys who don't run around and prance in forests), doesn't mean that this movie will be great. Just a warning, you may be disappointed.
