Delightful "End"

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2008)

I never imagined that the "Pirates" series could enthrall me the way it does now after "The Curse of the Black Pearl." I admit it; I am one of the few who was not crazy about it. But after seeing "Dead Man's Chest", I grew intrigued by the mixture of high-seas action, mysticism and goof-ball comedy that this series provides. "At World's End" is a simultaneously hilarious and thrilling conclusion. The many plots which sometimes perplexed me also captivated me. My favorite one involves Davy Jones and his fall from grace from being the biggest bad-ass of the Ocean to a lackey and how it ties to a long ago romantic rejection. But Captain Jack Sparrow is also a masterful mixture of romantic hero and comic relief and I love not knowing what he is going to say or do next. He is the anchors that allows the film to be shamelessly silly without embarrassing the audience. It is also satisfying to see pretty much every character getting a decent wrap-up to their stories and that the filmmakers take the time to do this and not care about trying the audience's patience; those 169 minutes flew right by. The romantic pathos of Will and Elizabeth was so beautiful and epic in a wildly unexpected way. The waterfall and maelstrom sequences are exhilarating and the comic chemistry between Sparrow and Barbossa is pure magic as is the way Gore Verbinski makes the humor appealing to adults and kids as well. While the violence may frighten the wee ones, I like to think of this as a fairy tale adventure and some fairy tales are always a bit frightening. This is one of the best endings of a trilogy because it manages (for the most part) to do so many things at once and do it well.