Movie Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Movie Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Rating: 9
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens

Review:

Ahhhhrrr! Ahoy matie. Shiver me timbers, pirates are back on the big screen, and this time it’s not some boy who never wants to grow up and is wearing tights. Nope, this time we have live action (though plenty of special effects) and real pirates, plus plenty of good laughs along the way.

Pirates begins with a British naval vessel heading to a Caribbean port when they come across a debris field of another ship. The folks onboard render assistance to the survivors, which this includes a young girl helping a young boy. This is the key, as the young girl is infatuated with the boy and hides the fact that the boy has been branded as a pirate. After taking a medallion from the boy, she then conceals the brand and they are on their merry way to Port Royal. Skip ahead a decade and that girl is now a hot young woman named Elizabeth (Keira Knightley, Bend It Like Beckham), who is the daughter of the royal governor, Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce, What a Girl Wants). The boy is now a young man named Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), and he fancies his rescuer, even though he is just a blacksmith’s apprentice, but a damn good one at that. Well, young Elizabeth is at the age where she should be getting married, and so her father sets her up with a rising naval officer, Norrington (Jack Davenport, The Talented Mr. Ripley), who is made to look much older than the young Elizabeth. Then along comes a Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, From Hell), arriving in port just as his small sailboat sinks under the ocean, only to be arrested as a pirate. But Jack’s imprisonment does not last long, as pirates come in with the fog and attack with a vengeance this little royal outpost. Nothing the Brits do seem to have any effect on these invincible pirates, and that’s because they are already dead. Yep, zombie pirates, and you can see their skeletons in the moonlight. These dead dudes are led by the backstabbing Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, Finding Nemo), who Jack has had previous experience with, and was then abandoned on a small desert island. Anyway, the pirates take Elizabeth, so now Jack and Will team up to rescue the fair maiden, Will out of love and Jack out of profit. After some trickery with the navy, the two secure a nice ship and head off to the Isla de Muerta, where the pirates have headed with Elizabeth in tow. Along the way there are plenty of good jokes, mostly delivered by Captain Sparrow, and plenty of old fashioned swashbuckling, high seas action and chicanery. So, will Will get the girl? Remember, its Disney, so of course he will.

Directing this well-done film is Mr. Gore Verbinski, who last directed The Ring. Writing the screenplay that is based off the popular Disneyland ride are Ted Elliott, Jay Wolpert, Terry Rossio, and Stuart Beattie. Some others in the movie are Lee Arenberg, David Bailie, Giles New, Damian O'Hare, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Berry Jr., Treva Etienne, Zoe Saldana, Guy Siner, Isaac C. Singleton Jr., and Paula Jane Newman.

All-in-all, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a delightful pirate tale, the kind I remember seeing as a kid on Saturday afternoons. I have always loved the 16^th Century through the 18^th Century period sailing vessels and the whole sense of adventure during that time of exploration and empire building. I still prefer the naval view ala Horatio Hornblower (the original starring Gregory Peck), but pirates are cool too. Johnny Depp is terrific as the comedic pirate (he really has the facial expressions down), and Keira Knightley is fun to watch. Good story and adventure gets you nine couches out of ten.

Bon voyage.