Not as bad as many people portray it albeit not too terribly great either

Rating: 5/10 (19 November 2007)

I remember an interview with Chow Yun Fat prior this film's release and his summation was simply "Pirates meet because they're due to be wiped out...stuff happens...and then we fight for our freedom"
And that is a pretty good synopsis of this film: Stuff Happens.
I'd say this is your typical Hollywood run of the mill sequel that relies off of its predecessors' success rather than break down new doors and barriers for the viewing audience.
And perhaps that's the ultimate crutch of Hollywood today that sickens most moviegoers like myself: money is more important than the substance and content of the presentation. Hey, as long as we support it and continue going, it'll always be the case.
I saw the movie at my school as part of a free showing and I must say that what was impressive in the otherwise convoluted plot were the special effects. Davy Jones again is rather impressive and the maelstrom scene, although roughly twenty minutes longer than it needed to be, was pretty nice to look at initially before the utter redundancy began to set in to my brain. For the effects (save the attack of the fifty foot woman "Calypso" who really does nothing aside from make it rain and blow wind) I give the movie five stars.
It's a Disney movie, and for that reason I don't expect excessive violence, and for what violence I do come across I expect it to be animated, bloodless, and comically relieved by the acting of Depp or Rush. However, it's not in this film and it seems the direction seems to struggle with corny sophomoric jokes that appeal to the Disney toddlers whilst trying to maintain a dark story interlaced with darker humor for the adults. The director fails at really deciding which side he wants to lean towards and thus we are given a plot mixed with jokes that don't really tie in to one another.
Again, since we're placed in a f aux animated environment we're expected to accept certain plot inconsistencies(magic being one of them and its use) that for all intensive purposes would need an explanation, however these were questions I felt a few more pages of writing and a few less of action would have been beneficial to explain:
-How does Elizabeth learn to wield a sword so well? -What happened to the Kraken? (The benefit of the doubt tells me this was explained but I must have missed some audio and it couldn't have been more than a one line excuse for why its massive corpse was washed ashore) -Why are there eighty billion different crews whose allegiance is ridiculously flimsy and faltering?
The acting wasn't awful as some of these reviews depict, although it was slightly wooden and more or less seemed to be performances of redundancy rather than passion being portrayed. Jack Sparrow even seems to have lost that charm that kept me interested in the first two, and Will/Elizabeth's romance never really develops and ends with him kissing her knee on a beach....er...
And going back to the plot, it was probably the most jumbled plot I've experienced in a long time. The introduction and dismissal of characters seemed to be more of an afterthought to the filmmakers. Chow Yun Fat reminds me of the dude in Mortal Kombat who pops out in corner, yells something along the line of "kalihoohoo", then disappears for no real reason. That's Fat's character: a disappearing non-sequiter with some fancy scars and an infatuation for Elizabeth.
Mentioning the other faults in the plot would be like beating a dead horse and for that reason I'll keep the review short. To reiterate though, I don't quite feel the movie is a complete waste like some people on here state it is, nor do I feel it's deserving of the 7+ rating. It's a decent movie that, by itself, would have been OK but had it been the first never warranted sequels.