Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

As a long time fan of the theme ride of Pirates of the Caribbean, never before have the theme of a ride become basis of a blockbuster movie. Though the question would be “why would they make a movie based on a ride?” come to mind, this movie may give you a good reason why.

The story begins with a little girl singing the theme song to the ride “yo-ho yo-ho a pirate’s life for me”, the first of many aspects of the ride integrated to the movie. They find a little boy in the middle of the ocean and along with him a dark looking ship with torn sails drifts away leaving another ship burning and on its way to davey jones’ locker. Many years later you find the little boy grown up as the apprentice of a blacksmith, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and the little girl is the beautiful daughter of the town governor, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Soon after Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), enters the scene humorously as he enters the port of on his sinking boat. The pirates attack their port and kidnap Elizabeth. Will and Jack must rescue Elizabeth while battling the British Navy and malicious pirates as they unfurl the curse of the Black Pearl. Though Will’s path is to be a hero, Jacks reasons lie elsewhere.

This movie has many aspects going for it. It has humor, plenty of action, special effects and everything you look for in a swashbuckling pirate movie. The most impressive of all is Johnny Depp’s performance as Captain Jack Sparrow which, despite how weird he seemed, was charismatic, humorous, and smart. It is one of his more unlikely roles because he becomes a totally different character than anyone he has played in the past. I would say that his performance carried the entire movie. Overall, this was a fun ride and we hardly notice the hour and a half go by as we follow the adventure and their battles against the vicious pirates. I give it an A- for plenty of fun and enjoyment in watching a movie.

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Genre: Action/Adventure
MPAA: Rated PG13 for Violence
DVD Release Date: TBA
Reviewed by: Geetarman Trung

The Story

The movie begins with Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp), a queerish scoundrel who stops by Port Royal somewhere in England, his ill-fated ship sinks. As he tries to find another one, he’s ends up finding himself saving the life of Elizabeth, a beautiful daughter of the towne chancellor. She wears a mysterious trinket, a treasure that the mates of the Black Pearl pirate ship has been searching for.

Captain Barbosa of the Black Pearl kidnapped her for the trinket, and Sparrow along with Elizabeth’s childhood friend who’s the town blacksmith goes off to rescue her. During their journey, they unlock the secrets of the Curse of the Black Pearl.

The Critique

Probably derived and influenced from Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme-park ride, this film loaded with major swashbuckling of the high seas. It’s everything you’d expect a pirate movie to have: pegged-legs, parrots, hidden treasure, even plank-walking!

This movie is a lot of fun, and packs spectacular special effects of the pirate fighting scenes. But be warned the skeletal pirates might be too frightening for kids. Otherwise, it’s put together with clever action-movie storyboard. One down-side is that the movie is a bit too long for its content. But it’s not a bad movie at all. Geetarman gives a B.