I wanted to like it, but...

Rating: 4/10 (28 May 2007)

It was very disappointing.
I adored the first movie to pieces. I own the DVD and regularly play it on movie nights with my friends. It's great unexpected fun, quotable, and a visual spectacle. The characters are surprisingly likable, and Depp comes roaring in like a breath of fresh air as Capt. Jack.
The problem with the third movie (as well as the second) is that it lost touch with it's roots. The first movie, while heavy with the supernatural stuff, was still pretty grounded in a fairly accurate real world. The characters were over the top, yes, but still believable, and above all, relatable. Their motives and predicaments all made a great deal of sense (i.e. Elizabeth wanting to marry Will, Barbossa wanting to be free of the curse, Jack simply wanting to get a boat so he could live his life of freedom). Unfortunately, in the new movies, the writers have lost touch with the first movie's charm. The plots are so convoluted it's difficult to decipher, much less remember, a character's desires and motives. It's much less emotionally grounded. It has also become so thick into this supernatural fantasy land that it has hardly any link to the real world at all. This would not have been a problem were the filmmakers not so intent on special effects and visual spectacles that they forgot to tell a good, solid story.
I believe this movie would have been better if the writers had kept to a more straightforward plot and toned down much of the "grand spectacle" stuff which really dominated the movies.