Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - movie review [contains 3 minor semi-spoilers] (July 10, 2003)

I saw the film on the Thursday night after the Wednesday opening at the El Capitan Theatre and loved it. The exhibit at the El Capitan was cool as well, but what is it with Disney not being able to spell or use correct grammar when it comes to Pirates? Two typos in the exhibit at The Disney Gallery at Disneyland and one huge typo in an exhibit at the El Capitan (the link is to a picture from a post on a Disney discussion board that had pictures of the stuff at the El Capitan). But I digress...

I'm definitely going to see this film again, and I'm waiting for the soundtrack that comes out on Tuesday, July 22. Everything was just so good about this film. They came up with a great story using so many of the existing elements. If you're totally unfamiliar with the ride, it's still a good movie. If you're a fan of the ride, there's so much more to enjoy. The only complaint I had was when Barbossa bled at the end. The blood looked like it was 6 inches in front of his body.

I like Johnny Depp OK, but I thought he was absolutely wonderful in this film. It was really distracting though, because I'd heard ahead of time that he'd based his performance on Keith Richards (with the reasoning that pirates were the rock stars of their time), so I totally saw Keith Richards wandering around all over the place.

Orlando Bloom was very good. I actually prefer his look here to his look in "Lord of the Rings". He possessed a lot of the same endearing qualities as did Carey Elwes in "The Princess Bride", I thought. And he looked so much like a musketeer in his costume at the end, moreso once he and Depp started fighting together. How cool. (During the scene when Jack first meets Will and they're sparring a bit, anyone else think of the scene between Mandy Patinkin and Carey Elwes in "The Princess Bride" on the clifftops?)

Keira what'shername was really good. I loved that she had something real to do and kicked butt instead of just being a damsel in distress. She was distracting too (but not in the same way for me as probably for others) because she looked so incredibly much like Natalie Portman. Then I found out a few nights later that she actually played the decoy for Amidala in Episode 1, so at least I was distracted for a reason.

And Geoffrey Rush was just an awesome pirate.

It'll be interesting to see whether any of their performances will be remembered come awards time. Depending on the rest of the field, I definitely think a few of them could be up for contention.

And, with all the hoopla on various discussion boards about the whole PG-13 thing, I totally disagree with people who say they shouldn't have done this PG-13. It has to be PG-13 to have all the cool stuff in it. It would have been a much inferior film if it had been made to conform to PG standards.

And what is with all the people who leave before the end of the credits in movies? <shakes head in non-comprehension>

A definite recommend.

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