Critic's Grade: B

It all started as a ride. I'm willing to bet that only about twenty-five percent of those teenage girls screaming Johnny Depp's name on the red carpet waiting for the premiere of the sequel to 2003's summer hit, didn't know it all started as a ride. That's actually quite unfortunate because that is one of the best rides Disney World has to offer and probably the best ride that is offered in Disneyland. That's like most Americans being able to recite the hamburger song from McDonald's memorized, rather than be able to recite the entire national anthem. Pathetic. Thankfully this is only a movie. The ride was created in the 1960s and opened shortly after Walt Disney's death, who was a heavy consultant in the development of the ride.

In 2003, Gore Verbinski took on the challenge of creating a film adaptation of the ride. The ride featured a few skeletons moving on their own, and so the writers developed quite a convincing plot, involving a crew of cursed pirates, that brought those living skeletons to life. For those of you who cannot recall, but I'm sure most of you can considering it was certainly a memorable movie, the story of the original film revolved around mutinied Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow and his reclaiming of a ship now posessed by his first mate, Barbossa. A particular member of the crew named Bootstrap Bill Turner refused to be part of the mutiny and was forced to the depths by Barbossa. After finding a treasure of Cortez the grew became cursed and needs became unfulfilled, the moonlight began to show them what they really were, the corpses of what were once men.

Little did the crew know, it was Bill's blood they needed to reverse the curse. A young woman, Elizabeth Swann (the daughter of the Governer of Port Royal) is kidnapped by Barbossa, claiming her surname is Turner, the last name of a local blacksmith, Will Turner, in which she secretly has feelings for. She does not realize that the crew needs the blood of a child of Bill. After many twists and turns in the plot with impressive writing, tongue in cheek humor, and traditional acts of violence by pirates, the film became a blockbuster.

After an explosive adventure with Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and the reclaiming of his rightful position of Captain some time ago, Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) are too be married. When Will is absent, she is informed that he has been arrested. Apparently she too is under arrest by the local lord, Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), for aiding in the escape of Jack Sparrow from his hanging. Beckett is willing to pardon the two as well as Jack, as a privateer, if they can get Jack's compass (which points towards your true desire).

Jack however has just escaped from another prison through a coffin, and collected a drawing of a mysterious key. While planning the next course, he is frightened by what apears to be Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsg?rd), now a rotting green color infested by sea critters. He informs Jack that he has been sent by Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) to pay off a debt, and Jack owes him his soul. He marks Jack with a black spot which is the trigger mark for an enormous assassin, the Kraken, what appears to be a giant octopus. Jack begins to realize that he needs that key, for what that key does is, it opens the dead man's chest, which holds the item that can stop Davy Jones once and for all. After managing to escape from prison seperately, Will embarks to find Jack (and manages to be meet his long deceased father), and Elizabeth attempts to find Will. Another old face joins Jack's crew, a fellow named Norrington (Jack Davenport), remember him? And yet another supernatural pirate journey unfolds.

There was something about Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow that was much more appealing and likeable in the first film rather than the second. His character is dressed in a red bandana, with long black, braided hair occasionally holding beads in certain strands. Most of his teeth are there, but a few are gold and silver. He walks with a drunken stagger, possibly because he's a rumaholic or because he's grown so attached to rocking back and forth of his ship. This time around his character involves much more comic shtick and slapstick, that you forget to take his character seriously. In the first film he was much more complex and had a certain depth to him that had you craving for more about his character.

Davy Jones is truly the only cravable character in this film. Played by Bill Nighy in a heavy body suit with plenty of CGI making it appear that his entire body is composed of various sea creatures. His head resembles an octopus, with tentacles as his beard, his right arm something resembling an squid, and his left the claw of a crab or lobster, not too mention the traditional peg leg. There is much more to this character than meets the eye, he carries a high amount of charisma, and there's also a bleak sadness to his face, knowing that he has lost someone and it has forever weakened him.

The two other main leads in the film, the couple of Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Keira Knightley Elizabeth Swann. What a truly pretty onscreen couple, at times it almost seems unrealistic. Orlando Bloom has more of a speaking role and I was quite surprised because I don't believe I've seen a film with him that he's actually had this much to say. Keira Knightley's character is slightly more rebellious and has evolved out of the damsel in distress role she had previously. The two of them have surprisingly improved their performance from the first film.

The writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rosio bring another supernatural pirate adventure to the screen. I really must say that this was a heavy step down from the acclaimed film of 2003. The story was still entertaining, but runs quite long with many scenes truly unnecessary. The cannibal island scene, which lasted probably a good twenty to twenty five minutes played no role in the overall story of the film. Talk about an insulting excuse for a time killer. The entire scene focused on Johnny Depp running around like his pants were on fire fleeing the cannibals, while the rest of the crew and Will attempted to escape hamsterball-like cages made of bones. The overall escape had them rolling down a hill which sort of destroys the thrill of a later fight scene between Will, Jack, and Norrington on top of and inside of a water powered mill wheel. The dialogue is as serious as the first one, but at times you feel you are overwhelmed with jokes and stupid slapstick. Again, I would love to have seen more scenes with Davy Jones.

The characters were all familiar to that of the first film, but felt a little empty considering the first film had a lot of character development, this one lacked that. It almost seems like the writers expected us to already know these people. We do, but given how their characters change in the first one, they can be unpredictable.

Director Gore Verbinski has many well placed scenes, ships, and locations. I especially enjoyed the home of the home of the mysterious mystic which was based in a dark swamp, lit by only the faint gleam of distant torches. The fighting and action sequences are well choreographed, especially the three part rhythmic sword fight on the wheel. Overall though, my favorite location was definitely the Flying Dutchman, the ship of Davy Jones, a very Gothic, organic looking ship with the feel of Hell to it.

The cinematography by Verbinski and Dariusz Wolski includes quite a few impressive works. The world of pirates is as dark as ever, and yet the area still appears to be a tropical paradise. The action scenes are shot well, especially the swordfighting sequences, and the dark shots on the flying dutchman.

The special effects supervised by Allen Hall is even more impressive than the first. This time an entire phantom army of Davy Jones, also extremely, realistic is created, all consisting of a different type of mutation of various aquatic fauna. The Kraken, the octopus, though mostly seen by giant tenticles is truly a convincing behemoth of hunger. My favorite special effects shot, is Davy Jones sitting in his quarters playing his organic organ- with his beard of tentaces. The shot is both haunting and reminded me a lot of phantom of the opera. The feeling of loss and rejection.

Klaus Badelt unfortunately was not the composer for this film, who conjured up the haunting sailing themes to the original film. Instead we get Hans Zimmer, who though uses some of Badelt's pieces, introduces a few new ones that make you feel that you're at a high school football game. This especially does not work for the theme of the Kraken as it rises from the depths followed with five or six orchestral blasts that basically tell us "Go, team, go!"

The end of this film easily points to another sequel and if you care at all about these films, you already know there is one coming. I'm very interested to see where they go with the next film considering the surprise at the end of this one. What's the surprise? Well re-watch The Curse of The Black Pearl and wait until all the credits have finished rolling and there's scene of great value.

All Reviews by Max Einhorn [Home page]
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