Pirates of the Caribbean 2003
I saw this one on video. I’ve always liked Johnny Depp but at the same time he seems to always take such blatantly quirky roles that I’ve lost a lot of my patience for him. Seeing the previews with him talking (and looking) like a drunk drag queen I wasn’t in a hurry to see this. Much to my surprise this really isn’t even his story.
It’s hard not to like pirate movies. All that swashbuckling! And this movie has plenty of good sword fights, treasure, intrigue, silly British officers, beautiful women, etc. And it throws in a bunch of ghosts just to keep it interesting. While it doesn’t stray far from the formula and is nearly mechanical in the way it throws the ingredients together, it is still fun to watch.
The acting is good with a surprisingly good cast. Depp steals the show, but everyone is very good. I didn’t recognize Orlando Bloom as Lord of the Rings’ elf without his pretty blonde hair (though he still has pretty hair here).
The visual effects with the ghosts are good, but that’s probably the weakest part of the movie. They try to show how the ghost pirates show up as people unless the moonlight strikes them, but they have a hard time carrying that off. It’s hard to tell when they’re being struck by moonlight and when they aren’t so it just seems like they’re constantly morphing from person to skeleton.
Keep your expectations low and you will enjoy this movie. I’ll give it a B.