Avast! Good old fashion swashbuckling fun. Rated Arrrr!

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2007)

The only thing which really seems to slow Disney's PotC juggernaut is the love story. Swann and Turner just look too made-up and clean for all this grime, brine and sea life, which is such a stretch it seems to detract at times. I guess the love-interest must be there for mom's and dad's who are dragged into the cinema by the kids.
I've admired the versatile Bill Nighy's work in other films and he continues (with Geoffrey Rush) to be among the strongest actors, who project some menace and give the film some real meat, which is needed to balance so much silliness. These are supposed to be Pirates after all. I'm certain contemporary pirates consider this all high comedy as they board ships, take hostages, etc. Somewhere in the myth Disney has woven, we are probably forgetting what pirates were really about.
The tale is largely entertaining and a pretty good pace and thankfully no repeat of the tumbling through the jungle bits from PotC II.
Spoiler Warning! At the end, why the fleet turns away is completely a mystery. No character appears to challenge why they shouldn't be finishing off these scourges of the seven seas, they all just bugger off! Why? Oh, and wasn't that an Errol Flynn pose near the end by the new captain of the Flying Dutchman?