A major disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (9 June 2007)

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my all time favourite movies. Everything in it was pitched just right - it was a wonderful, rollicking, feel-good adventure. Unfortunately Pirates 2 was an unmitigated disaster. I kept the faith though and had very high hopes for Pirates 3, especially with the return of Geoffrey Rush.
He did indeed perform well but the other leads seemed to be treading water and I was bored along with them. The script was the major disappointment though. Far too many characters, few of whom were of interest, and a meandering, deadly dull plot.
I found the whole affair leaden. There was comedy, yes, but it was heavy handed and felt laboured. It was also too often offset by far too many deaths which made the comedy elements seem jarring.
Finally, the final "battle" just didn't convince me. Lord Beckett's actions (or lack thereof) were frankly unbelievable and I felt cheated by the lack of action.
I have given this film 4 stars only because it is marginally better than POTC 2. There was one character who was definitely a 10 star act as far I was concerned though - the monkey. He stole every scene he was in and was by far the best actor on screen. It's a pity he wasn't allowed to write the script as well!