Good, but not 'piratey' enough!

Rating: 7/10 (11 April 2011)

This is still a wonderful watch, but it seriously lacks the the quirkiness and charm of the first two.
The Curse of the Black Pearl was such a jaunty, lively film and Dead Man's Chest was a thumping good action movie with some spellbinding effects - the crue of the Flying Dutchman were an absolutely grotesque visual treat!
But aside from a few good CGI effects, this one seems like a different film altogether which is really quite jarring.
I didn't like the opening scenes, it didn't fit with the other two films at all and was quite violent for a Disney.
The rather pointless host of new characters introduced at the beginning were wholly unlikable and really seemed to detract from the pirate theme, and the story line wasn't as easy to follow as it should've been.
I liked that the director experimented with Jack's subconsciousness and the Locker scenes are just wonderfully bizarre, but aside from that, the acting throughout was lacklustre.
Keira Knightly, who I loved in The Curse of the Black Pearl, seemed especially annoying in this and spends the ENTIRE film with her mouth wide agape, for reasons that elude me completely. Even Naomi Harris's mysterious Tia Dora character, who seemed so enchanting in Dead Mans Chest, completely lost her shine in this film.
There was, however, one saving grace - the unsurpassable acting talent of Geoffrey Rush as the roguish, twinkly-eyed Captain Barbosa, who kept the narrative sailing along and single handedly made a valiant attempt to keep the magic of the first film alive.