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PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL Send This Review to a Friend
The way in which Johnny Depp plays pirate Jack Sparrow makes him look more swishbuckling than swashbuckling. Trying to be offbeat and funny rather than dashing, Depp's movements seem more effete than fearsome or heroic. Where is Errol Flynn when he's needed? Not that it matters much. "Pirates of the Caribbean," a merchandising movie tied to a ride at Disneyland, is long on mayhem and short on entertainment. There's the occasional laugh, but the action is busy rather than exciting, even with the horror-flick plot involving undead pirates doomed to live that way until the so-called curse is lifted. Yo ho ho and a bottle of dumb.
It is difficult to fathom at whom this film is aimed. It is too stupid for an adult audience and extremely violent for children--note its PG-13 rating--although given the violent nature of video games youngsters play, a stab in an eyeball may unfortunately no longer be that unusual or upsetting. There's lots of fighting and killing and battles with skeletons, and as for the scruffy look of the pirates, there's nothing that a good dentist couldn't help. Rotting teeth are as common as swords.
In the screenplay by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Depp portrays a pirate whose ship, the Black Pearl, has been stolen by rival pirate Barbossa, played with requisite sneering by Geoffrey Rush. The British are after both of them, but particularly Jack. Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), whose life Jack had saved, returns the favor by appealing to save him from the gallows. Orlando Bloom is Will Turner, who is in love with Elizabeth, whom her father, Governor Weatherby Swann (Johnathan Pryce) would like to wed British Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport). Will and Jack team up to recapture the Black Pearl.
Knightley was excellent as the soccer pal of the young Indian girl in "Bend It like Beckham," but her portrayal of Elizabeth is personality-less. She looks attractive, but comes across as vacuous, par for the film as a whole. It's obvious that the production was a huge job with challenging logistics for director Gore Verbinzki and his vast crew, as reflected in the staggering list of credits.
A colleague murmured that Depp is so cute, and maybe his following will feel that way. But from this vantage-point, the film is so cluttered that it is hard to relate to very much of it, especially the piled on action that is more numbing than thrilling. A Buena Vista release.
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