Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Synopsis: The pirates of the Caribbean are not a very nice bunch. This could explain why they have brought a curse down upon themselves. The curse can only be undone once they return every piece of stolen treasure from an Aztec burial site. They've been searching for that last coin for some time, and when they finally come across it around the neck of a beautiful damsel, Elizabeth Swann.(Keira Knightly), the only obstacles left in their way are Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) the ex-captain of the Black Pearl, and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) a talented blacksmith and childhood friend of Miss Swann.

The fact that this film is based on a Disneyland ride works both for and against it. The name thus has immediate recognition for a section of the population but considering the amount of money invested in its making the investors would want to have something up their collective sleeve to ensure their financial return. That something is none other than Mr. Johnny Depp in his intriguing performance as Jack Sparrow, with his Keith Richards-inspired darkened eyes, scraggly hair and gold-capped teeth, a tongue-in-cheek buccaneer.

Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in Star Wars had a similar feel about him. These two rebels are the kind of characters that live their lives outside of the law, winning people over with their charm and not much else. Watching one of these big budget adventure films can have the affect of sending one back to childhood, before our intellect stepped in to assure us that what we are viewing is of little merit. This is the first film that Disney has released with a PG rating. Considering that most of the battles are sword fights whose sound effects are probably more disturbing than the visual cut and thrust, I'm guessing that the sequences involving the transformation of the pirates into very scary skeletons could be the issue here.

In his role as Will Turner, Orlando Bloom proves that he can move over from playing supporting actor roles as he did in Lord of the Rings to convincingly playing the romantic lead. Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, is every child's idea of the classic ruthless pirate, and a suitable foil for Jack Sparrow. Keira Knightley's portrayal of Elizabeth Swann could have been mimicked by any of the many other young rising stars presently gracing our screens. (Was that top lip collagen-enhanced, or is she distantly related to Julia Roberts?) The story is really of little consequence, although as long as you don't look too closely, it does have a beginning, middle and end that mostly, for this does tend to go on, justify all those sword fights and fantastic-looking old ships.

Pirates of the Caribbean is pure escapism but with enough humour to leave you wondering if maybe a trip to Anaheim to experience the Disneyland ride might not be such a bad idea after all.

FYI: Needless to day the film was an enormous box office success and kick-started one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.

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