somewhat disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2007)

It would have been refreshing to see more female roles. The greatest Chinese pirate of all time was not a man! It was a woman, Ching Shih. In this movie, she is relegated to one of the supporting 9 pirate brethren roles. She she should have had the lead.
The Calypso was pretty cool, but a little too much like out of Zena, Warrior Princess (a great show, but not appropriate in the POTC setting, IMHO).
We didn't see much of Tia Dalma in POTC 2, and only a little more in POTC 3. According to the storyline, her character plays a central role throughout all 3 movies. So why not give her more face time? Her compelling relationship with Davy Jones could have been explored more, which would have re-enforced what we learned in the first two movies. The movie alludes to Dalma's and Jones' pain, but we don't witness it. That could have been very powerful.
The writers had a great opportunity to play off the ancient seafaring myth of a flat world, a place that ancient mariners truly dreaded, to the extent that it halted westward expansion for a millennium. How many times in the history books have you seen those images of great sea monsters lurking at the edge of the earth, where any ship foolish enough to travel was doomed - to either those monsters or an eternal abyss? It could have (and should have) been an allegorical high point, ala Moby Dick. It could have had the Kraken (or a bunch of baby Krakens) writhing in a bubbling sea of despair, warning the mariners to turn back, but they press on through that adversity. Unfortunately, that drama was very much underplayed and, hence, a disappointment.
Another disappointment was in the lack of creative fortitude of the first two movies. As posted elsewhere on this site, POTC 1 was fresh (skeletons walking the ocean floor), POTC 2 introduced new creative drama and fun(the Kraken!, headhunters, Jack's lizard walk), but POTC 3 just seems to lack that creative genius.
One emotional high would have to be Boostrap's mid-movie behavior. Anybody who has watched a loved one waste away with Alzheimer's will certainly be touched by that scene. And Jack's internal dialogue was interesting, but could have been a little more ethereal, perhaps like some of those dark scenes from What Dreams May Come (but with the POTC aesthetic).
Overall, POTC doesn't hold a candle to LOTR, but then its not supposed to. I view POTC sort of like the ride: it should be fun, a little scary, and a little wet. Unfortunately, most of the fun is missing from POTC 3; what fun is there is misplaced, and there isn't enough emotional dark drama to offset it(perhaps aside from Bootstrap).