PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: The Curse of the Black Pearl
A Walt Disney Pictures Release

review by Joseph B. Mauceri

SYNOPSIS: Young Elizabeth Swann (KEIRA KNIGHTLEY) is traveling with her father to their new home in Port Royal when her ship encounters a shipwreck. The crew manages to rescue a single survivor from the ocean. Will Turner (ORLANDO BLOOM), is put in the charge of Elizabeth, who finds a medallion on her person and takes, fearful that it identifies him as a pirate.

Years later, the roguish and eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow (JOHNNY DEPP), finds his way to Port Royal. Arrested for being a pirate, Jack watches from behind bars as his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa (GEOFFREY RUSH) attacks and pillages the town, and kidnaps the Governor¹s (JONATHAN PRYCE) beautiful daughter, Elizabeth. Will Turner joins forces with Jack to rescue Elizabeth, and they commandeer the fastest ship in the fleet. As they set sail on the crystalline waters of the Caribbean, Will learns that there is a curse on Barbossa and his crew. They are doomed to live forever as the undead, where moonlight transforms them into living skeletons. The curse they carry can only be broken if the Aztec treasure they once-plundered is restored.

REVIEW: For those of you who might not be aware of this, THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is based/inspired by the Disneyland and Disney World rides of the same name. It seemed to me that this was just an attempt by Disney to exploit an obvious ³cash cow.² So I went into the screening with grim expectations for the film. I was wrong! I was both entertained and impressed.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski took an entertaining ride and crafted a film that is a grand adventure on the high seas and a fun swashbuckler. I think the key to the film is that they didn¹t take the ride and try to shape it into a film. The filmmakers came up with a story and worked the elements of the ride into the plot. Bruckheimer is known for the ³larger-than-life² blockbusters (The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor), and brings some of the best special effects teams to the film. Director Gore Verbinski has a unique vision that gives his films a storybook/fairy tale feel. The duo blend their styles and expertise to energize this simple story and take the audience on an exciting ride. Using just a few simple locations for the film there is enough action, effects, and stunts to naturally satisfy an audience of all ages. There is something about PIRATES that reminded me of the feel of a film where three screen legends (Steven Spielberg, Richard Donner, and Chris Columbus) got together on a modern day treasure hunt called ³Goonies.²

Unlike Bruckheimer¹s other blockbusters, PIRATES has a smaller cast of top talent. In addition top a little swordplay, Rush and Depp dual for screen presence. Depp wins with another unique character. It's as memorable as his Ichabod Crane in "Sleepy Hallow," a bit different and much more memorable. Rush is always great, and creates fantastic characters. His Captain Barbossa is part Captain Hook (why are Disney¹s villainous pirates all a bit of Hook?) and the Marquee de Sade he brought to life in ³Quills. Keira Knightly is a wonderful damsel not is distress, but where the heck did she come form to step into this role? There is a vast cast of character actors who make up the colorful background of nasty pirates. A few get a bit of screen time to either create menace or comic relief. The entire cast has a lot of fun with the film and their energy is transferred to the audience.

I had tons of fun with PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, but I can't agree with the critics who call it "the must see movie of the summer," or "Indiana Jones meets Star Wars." It's a lot of damn fun, surprisingly well written, and has this feel of a grand adventure on the high seas. However, it was shot basically on three locations and doesn¹t have that true a big enough ³epic² feel.

There have been a few films (Roman Polanski¹s ³Pirates² and Renny Harlin¹s ³Cutthroat Island²) that have tried to rekindle the fire of the pirate/ swashbuckler films, but failed. Could it have been timing? I believe it was more a matter of the lack of vision on the part of the filmmakers, and it could also be that they took the genre for granted. PIRATES proves what can be done when filmmakers have a respect for the material, a keen vision, an understanding of the genre, a sense of fun, and, most important of all, an appreciation for adventure.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/index.html

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