Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Josh Gilchrist's review of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

* * * 1/2 out of * * * *

The lackluster summer movie season of 2003 gets a much needed push in the right direction with director Gore Verbinski's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." This isn't a film which can be taken seriously but as lightly as possible. It's a grand return to adventure, romance and fantasy.

With numerous nods to old Hollywood, the film is proof that old formulas can be worked over and over again and never seem tired. The fact is we haven't seen a swashbuckler this enjoyable in a long time. Based on the popular Disney theme-park ride, "Pirates" also pokes as much fun at its origins as it does at resurrecting them. It feels like a cross between Errol Flynn and Monty Python. This is understandable since the screenwriters are Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio who scripted the animated features "Antz," "Aladdin," and "Shrek" along with 1998's "The Mask of Zorro."

What a film like "Pirates" needs is a unique hero. Here, we are offered Captain Jack Sparrow, a wayward and drunkard pirate with one too many crazy ticks and twitches. It's a role brought to life by Johnny Depp as he sheds his serious reputation and becomes a burlesque performer not afraid to make himself look like a fool.

The film is full of the various conventions you'd expect from a fairy tale. There's the Governor's daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) who is expected to marry a commodore (Jack Davenport) but the man she truly loves is a blacksmith she has known since childhood named Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

Capt. Sparrow's arrival on the island causes quite a stir and he's soon imprisoned. Little do the locals know that they have captured the wrong pirate. The real danger comes from the crew of a ship called the Black Pearl, captained by Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). There's a curse on this ship which can only be broken if they first obtain a pirate medallion that Elizabeth has in her possession. They end up kidnapping her altogether, forcing our hero Will into action as he teams up with Capt. Sparrow.

Thus begins an adventure which is sure to please both young and old. This would seem to the ideal film for grandparents to take their preteen grandchildren to. It will give them a chance to show the little ones what cinematic adventure used to represent before computer generated images and insane premises.

That's not to say that "Pirates" doesn't use computer generated effects. It uses them very well in scenes representing the haunting happenings aboard the Black Pearl. This is a film that doesn't rely on these effects to wow an audience. It uses old-fashioned storytelling, and that does just fine.

But, the audience could get bored with all of the sword fights and mutiny if not for the fact that the characters are so likeable. Although Depp and Rush show the acting skills, it's the entire cast that seems to be having fun with this material. Orlando Bloom is quickly becoming a viable star in Hollywood after his appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and now this, his first starring role. Keira Knightley is a beautiful heroine with a great abundance of spunk, adding to the films jovial nature.

The fact is that you probably won't find a more fun picture to see this summer. While other films are too concerned about piling on silly predicaments instead of creating an enjoyable film, "Pirates" knows exactly how to please an audience without taking itself too seriously.

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X-RAMR-ID: 35260
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1174358
X-RT-TitleID: 1123873
X-RT-AuthorID: 5858
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4