Now, believe it or not, I enjoyed it, for the most part. The effects on the dead pirates were faboo, and the storyline made sense (mostly). A gorgeous film, and a fairly well put-together one. Most of the actors (unknowns) did a great job, and Geoffrey Rush was EXCELLENT as Captain Barbossa. Jonathan Pryce also did a decent job, even if his character was a bit of a weed. Also, the many small references to the original Disney ride were nice to see and point out. Good call, Mr. Verbinski.
On to the downside. Not to piss off the many ladies that read this that cream their panties over Johnny Depp, but I had a hard time believeing in him. Sometimes, he'd do a great job of being the pirate he was supposed to be, but for some reason, the rest of the time he thought he was making a sequel to 'Fear and Loathing', and started acting like he was on drugs...and was there any good reason for him to have enough eyeliner on to be classified as goth? Next we have Orlando Bloom (and the ladies that didn't lose it over Depp certainly do over Bloom). Christ, I'm supposed to believe this smooth-skinned, cultured lad is a blacksmith? I think not. No matter the mud, smoke, scum, and grime he had to deal with, he was always a victim of commercial-style glowing skin...man, someone hook me up with his make-up artist. Lastly, I could have done without the corset joke, it was unnecessary, thrown in for marketing reasons...and I REALLY could have done without the pirate that kept losing his eyeball, thrown in to have a bit of comic relief.
So, overall, a good flick, and one I'm glad I saw. I'd love to think that maybe Disney is on a new trend, and that perhaps my years of ranting about them are having an effect (or something), especially seeing as how 'The Haunted Mansion' is due out soon...but they've already made it into a bit of a comedy, so, I suppose not. Oh well, even steaming nuggets of shit sometimes have a bit of undigested oat in them for the birds to eat.
