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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
7/9/03 - PG-13 - 133m
Johnny
Depp - Jack Sparrow
Geoffrey Rush - Barbossa
Orlando Bloom - Will Turner
Director: Gore Verbinski
Written by: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio
Official
Website
JEF
I can’t really say enough good about this movie. Let me
jump into the storyline…
Storyline: Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) is a young
girl on a ship traveling with her father the Governor of “Port Royal”.
She spots a boy floating on a raft, and the crew quickly brings him aboard.
The boy is wearing a gold “coin” around his neck, which Elizabeth
confiscates, for she fears what her fathers men might do, if they suspect
the boy of being a pirate. Fast-forward 10 years, give or take. The boy
is William Turner (Orlando Bloom), the town’s blacksmith, who now
has a thing for his rescuer Elizabeth. Into town sails “Captain”
Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Depp is a gentleman of Fortune (aka a Pirate).
Sparrow is looking to find his old ship “The Black Pearl”
that was stolen from him, by his own group of pirates that turned against
Sparrow in mutiny, and left him marooned on a remote island. But…
it turns out, the new crew of the Black Pearl, found a treasure of Cortez
that has a curse upon it. They are trying to reverse the curse Sparrow
is trying to get his ship back, and Elizabeth and Will get caught up in
the middle of the adventure.
I really liked this movie. I’m counting this a 2 for 2 for Disney’s
recent pirate movies. I really enjoyed the animated Disney adventure “Treasure
Planet” (based on Treasure Island), which led me to read the book
“Treasure Island” (Thanks JD&E). So when I learned that
Disney was back again, and making this new pirate movie I was really looking
forward to seeing it. Then, I learned that Disney has obtained a great
cast of talent, Johnny Depp (always been a fan of his work), Orlando Bloom
(Lord of the Rings), and Geoffrey Rush (Shine). But I found myself trying
to keep my expectations in check, after all this is a movie that falls
into that love/hate category of a summer blockbuster. So I was expecting
a mind-numbing plot, with a bunch of explosions, and some boat chases.
But… I was NOT disappointed! I really enjoyed this movie. The plot
was involved in some creative story telling, the characters were unique,
and interesting, and the actors and actress were of a higher caliber.
I have to admit, I was not familiar with actress Kiera Knightly (Elizabeth
Swann). But she was incredibly beautiful leading lady, and was able to
act, and keep up with such talents of Depp, Bloom, and Rush. I look forward
to seeing more movies with Kiera (King Arthur is due in 2004).
Orlando Bloom did a fine job of playing the blue-collar blacksmith role,
turn action hero. But the real show was watching Johnny Depp bring his
talent for characters to give life to “Captain Jack Sparrow”.
A strange sort of character (like most of Depp’s characters) that
has a sort of mix of a drunken, English, pirate with a bit of a lisp.
The special effects were well done, nothing too over the top, but plenty
to look at and admire throughout the movie. The scene where the crew is
walking along the bottom of the ocean was fantastic.
Add to the mix a fine cast of characters, a terrific wardrobe, for the
colonial times, and a strong musical score. Oh, and one more thing…
there were some terrific bits of comedy in the movie. Some of the one-liners
had the entire audience laughing.
Here’s the kicker of the whole thing too, this movie was based on
the theme park ride of the same title at Disney. An amusement park ride
inspired this fun entertaining action movie. I give special kudos to the
writers for creating a fun and creative plot, around such a mundane starting
point. Compare this with the movie we just saw last week “The League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, where the story could draw upon such
great literary classics like Dracula, Dorian Grey, Tom Sawyer, and more,
only to come up with a movie plot that seriously falls flat on it’s
face.
Finally, I’ll have to keep an eye out for any future work from the
director, Gore Verbinski. I was first introduced to Gore’s work
in the horror movie “The Ring”, which was a great horror movie.
So now, with this second movie about pirates, from Gore, I’m looking
forward to whatever his next project might be.
If you’re looking for a fun summer movie with a not too complicated
plot, and some good special effects, with high seas adventure, this is
a must see movie. Me personally, I’m going to look around for some
more pirate movies to rent and see if I’ve found a new genre that
I really like. I’ll also be in line for Disney’s next movie
based on one of their theme park rides… The Haunted Mansion.
Jef
PS> there was one moment in the film that did bother me as far as believability
and yes it’s VERY minor… Will and Capt. Sparrow, use an overturned
row boat, and are able to walk across the bottom of the sea, using the
air contained within the overturned ship to travel. There’s no way
two men, could hold an overturned rowboat full of air, beneath the water.
It’s hard enough for a full size man, to hold a small beach ball
underwater, let alone a full size rowboat. See, I told you it was a minor
nit-picky thing.
You’re going to hear it here first on Film-Critiques.com…
I would like to suggest that all movies being made from now on, should
employ a physics teacher to tell them when something like this could happen
or not.
Pirates of The Caribbean -The Curse of the Black Pearl
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Pirates of
The Caribbean - The Curse of The Black Pearl
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this Poster at AllPosters.com