Aaaand Let's Have a Positive Review This Time

When the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out in 2003, I was one of the naysayers. I was one of those who took umbrage at the thought that Hollywood was so creatively bankrupt that it was now pillaging theme park rides for ideas on which to base its movies. A year before, Disney had come up with a real stinker called The Country Bears and flopped horrendously. I wondered why they were insisting on having another go at it.

Two or so hours later I came out of the theater pleasantly surprised. Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp and crew had created a truly entertaining film, and the most enjoyable flick I'd seen that year since X2. After getting burned by the migraine that The Matrix Reloaded turned out to be it was nice to really enjoy a movie once again.

Similarly, after watching the mixed bag that the latest Superman sequel turned out to be, it was nice to watch a movie that was pure entertainment, which aptly describes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The storyline is predictably flimsy: several people, including Depp's character Jack Sparrow and the film's new villain, Lord Beckett (who seems vaguely Napoleonic in stature and nature) want a key, which opens a chest, which contains...well, something important that I'd rather not disclose. Beckett throws Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) in jail but then strikes a deal with Turner to find Jack and get from his magic compass so that he can obtain the key. It gets pretty chaotic from there, and the further I go into the plot the more spoilers I give, so I'll stop there.

Plot aside, this movie is sheer enjoyment from start to decidedly unresolved finish. It is devoid of Superman Returns' pseudo-religious pretension, and the gobbledygook of the Matrix Revolutions, which it resembles in that it is also the first half of a five-hour film.

Johnny Depp is magnificent in this movie. It was he who elevated the first film beyond a generic summer action movie, and it is he who saves this film from all its narrative shortcomings. The guy is pure magic from start to finish. The other actors look rather staid, having to play straight man to his raving lunatic, but the dynamic works somehow.

The other star of this film is, without dispute, Industrial Light and Magic. I wasn't really crazy about the effects of the first movie, as walking skeletons and zombies seemed rather generic at a time when mumakil and winged ring wraiths were storming the cinematic landscape. But here they've absolutely outdone themselves. They also managed to hit a weak spot of mine: the film features a giant squid, called a kraken, which destroys ships with its enormous tentacles.

I don't know if anyone knows this, but I LOVE GIANT SEA MONSTERS!!! When I was younger, one of my favorite visual effects shots was in Terry Gilliam's Baron Von Munchausen, when a towering island turned out to be a monstrous fish. This hearkens back to that, and almost put a tear in my eye. This creature is ILM's proudest achievement yet, and is their defining moment for this decade, just as the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park were its defining achievement of the 1990s.

This film has shattered Spider-Man's opening weekend record of $115 million, with a record $135 million. While i predict it won't have the wall-crawler's legs as I don't think a hanging plotline lends itself very well to repeat viewing, this film definitely deserves all the success it's getting now. I'm looking forward to seeing it, and that SPIDER MAN 3 TRAILER, one more time!