A visual demo, not much else

Rating: 5/10 (8 September 2007)

Performances were good, especially Barbossa and Sparrow in that order. Visuals were probably as impressive as this kind of movie allows. Music was good, though it shone less than in the previous movies.
The real problem with the movie was the plot. It's not that it's convoluted and a bit hard to follow, as everybody is treacherous and switches sides every 5 minutes; this is a bad thing (because it prevents you from feeling identified with the characters and living the movie in first person), but not the worst. The problem with Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (and 2) is that the story writer was drunk and the story is utter trash. Too much fantasy. I was almost expecting Barbossa to turn to a dragon at some point. Every 15 minutes a new fantastic, magic, rule-breaking element is introduced. You simply give up on the story and watch a "demo" Â— everything goes, everything happens, there are no rules, expressed or implied, that will guarantee one set of standards upon which you can understand what's going on and what's likely to happen or what's an accomplishment; there are no rules for this game. You don't care about the movie because you know something magic will happen that will turn things around. This is a very cheap plot, the kind children write at schools. If you're going to do fantasy, do it right: introduce a single element or a system of elements with certain rules, then work upon it. If you keep introducing trash, the story can go just anywhere without any justification, as in this movie.
I couldn't feel involved in this movie and didn't care for the characters. So it felt like an average movie to me.