Entertaining summer movie that teeters on overkill

Rating: 6/10 (16 July 2006)

Following sometime after the events of the first movie we learn about a motive that Jack Sparrow has had all along - to obtain "The Dead Man's Chest." A chest that contains the power to control the most frightening ship on the sea - The Flying Dutchman - and with that comes the ability to control the most terrifying creature in the sea - The Kraken. But Jack isn't the only one after The Dead Man's Chest.
Following in suit with the original this is another highly entertaining summer movie, albeit with flaws. Though it does contain that same tongue-in-cheek tone throughout with Johnny Depp reprising what may become his most famous movie character.
However, the mega-budget, expansive sets, multi-million dollar effects, rousing action and feel-good adventure spirit far surpass desired character development. Traditional and expansive adventure yarns like 'The Illiad' or 'Aeneid' and even films like 'Indiana Jones' had a good plot woven into them - it accompanied the escapist action and and spectacular feel. Here there is a plot, simple and quite predictable, but it's there all right. However, the effects are so expansive that the balance is teetering on total overkill. So much time and imagination must have gone into those effects and they are quite spectacular, but with the bare-bones plot they are really the driving force of the movie. Lucky for the viewer that at least the characters are likable so you can manage to forgive the lack of plot and enjoy the film, but it is definitely not as memorable or thoroughly enjoyable as the first entry. --- 7/10
Rated PG-13 for violence and intense action