Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Review - That's Entertainment Online

Pirates of the Caribbean

Curse of the Black Pearl

by Louis Vincent Balbi

Pirates of the Caribbean

That's Entertainment Online Awards

4 (out of 5) Claps For Quality

1 = Poor

2 = Fair

3 = Good

4 = Superb

5 = A Classic

4 Popcorns For Entertainment


1 = Root Canal For The Eyes	2 = Isn't It Over Yet?	3 = It's Over Already?	4 = As Good As It Gets

Background/Synopsis:

Inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney.

TEO Review

by Louis Vincent Balbi

The cinematography in the first few seconds of Pirates of the Caribbean establishes that this is a film that cares about quality and has every intention of being the best movie that it can be. As far as the filmmakers are concerned, the road to excellence was successfully paved with their diligent intentions.

What's the movie about?

Pirates. Greed. Love. Loyalty. Adventure. Stolen treasure burdened with an ancient curse. Above all, it's a cinematic ride into adventure; into the misty past belonging partly to history and mostly to legend. This is a movie that will endure many viewings. It's fun and exciting.

Pirates of the Caribbean uses all the traditional elements of a pirate film but puts a bit of a spin on each of those elements. The damsel in distress; the shipwrecked survivor; the pirate cave full of treasure � all the same old familiar ingredients but made following a fresh recipe.

It was wonderful to see interspersed through the movie various scenes bringing to life the most famous tableaus from the Pirates of the Caribbean Disney amusement park ride.

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is the skeletons dueling the Argonauts in Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts (1963). As a young boy, it both frightened and delighted me. A similar experience is offered to the audience in this movie. Moonlight reveals what the ancient curse on their greed has transformed the pirates into � "living" skeletons, doomed to a life of the damned.

Cursed pirate sword in the moonlight

Special effects � even great ones such as these, still need living actors to "flesh" the script out. And there is certainly no shortage of acting talent in this movie. I have always found Johnny Depp to be one of our finest actors. His choices both in movie roles as well as in how to play his characters have always been delightfully surprising to me. I find that I feel a lot of pressure to say he was great in the role of Captain Jack Sparrow � but I cannot. There are times when he is excellent; there are even times when he approaches being brilliant; but he is almost always just a hair short of being great. And it is that stray hair which torments my critical eye.

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow What bothered me most were some of the characterization choices he made. I particularly disliked his slurred speech which seemed to indicate a rum-addled or sun-addled brain � which his repeated demonstrations of intelligence and mental sharpness belied. I disliked this choice of his, not just on philosophical grounds, but because it made it harder to hear Depp speak his dialogue. He did excellent work based on most other actor's abilities; I have just come to expect much more from him. My expectations were naturally high with an actor of such exemplary ability, and so I was disappointed. I almost felt as if he held himself back to maintain the balance of the movie and its other characters. Or I may just be trying to give him an out.

I'm sure most people (outside the padded room cells) would say I'm dead wrong about Johnny Depp's performance. So make up your own mind.

Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa

Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa was delightfully despicable as a black-hearted amoral pirate. I don't believe that this character could have been played better by any living actor.

Orlando Bloom as Will Turner I've been a big fan of Orlando Bloom since seeing him portray Legolas in Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He was perfect in that role. By the way, I don't mean excellent; I don't mean great; I mean perfect. The actor Orlando Bloom totally transformed himself into that character. Legolas seemed to emerge directly from the pages of Tolkien's masterpiece and onto the screen.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen him in enough roles to determine if he's a good actor or "just" a great character actor.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, he did a truly commendable job portraying Will Turner. Although this character is obviously not (and not expected to be) as memorable as that of Legolas in Lord of the Rings � he is someone I feel privileged to have gotten to know. Mr. Bloom was totally believable as the emotionally reserved blacksmith's apprentice called upon to do extraordinary things to save the woman he loves.

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann was a wonderful surprise. Feisty, resourceful, intelligent, alluring, and a self-taught expert on all aspects of her obsession � pirates, naturally. Throughout the film, Ms Knightley proved herself to be a truly exceptional romance heroine.

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann The merest movement of her eyes or lips speaks volumes about her love for Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) � and her disappointment in his inability to boldly give voice to his love for her.

Speaking of her eyes, there is a subtle intelligence there that shines brightly through. It is remarkable how infrequently we are treated to see a bright actress displaying such an intelligent performance as in this movie.

In fact, I was overjoyed at the overall intelligence level of the entire film. And I was equally pleased to find that the majority of the main characters were not written or presented as cliches, which could happen all too easily in a movie of this sort.

It was particularly a pleasure to watch Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and Norrington (Jack Davenport) all be smart. This is not to say they didn't make mistakes, or that this is a "brainy" film � it's both a lot of fun and very funny in all the right places.

Indeed, Pirates of the Caribbean is as much fun as its namesake, the ride at Disney on which it is "based." And just like the first time I went on that ride, when I left the movie theatre I felt like I wanted to turn right around and go back to enjoy it once more.

teo end