As worthy a successor as i could have hoped for

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2006)

I have to admit i love the first "Pirates of the Caribbean"-movie. I'm not that much of an adventure-fan usually, but there is just something about playfulness in movies that attracts me. When filmmakers allow themselves to play and have fun with the media as well as the subject. The first movie was genuine fun, and so of course the expectations were high for the sequel. Did it deliver? I think it did.
Captain Jack Sparrow is a character to fall in love with. Insanely weird and existing somewhere between good and bad, wrong and right, he's just the perfect. Orlando Bloom who should have the Academy award for stiffness (if such is ever presented) is also perfect as the, guess?, stiff William Turner. The first movie had captain Barbossa (the always wonderful Geoffrey Rush) and this movie has Davy Jones (the equally wonderful Bill Nighy) who is a worthy successor. So the stage is set character-wise for a repetition of the success. Don't forget story though. Of course treasure is the goal and enemies must be avoided and vanquished. In this movie though there is more at stake than just simple gold, something that doesn't destroy the fun luckily. There is sword-fighting, acrobatics, insane stunts and crazy sailing to make everyone happy. Much as in the first movie.
So we have the characters, we have the story, we have the action and the comedy. Is this a better movie than the first? Not in my opinion. The first movie had the advantage of being first, as well as a story that perhaps made more sense. But this is as worthy a successor as i could have hoped for. Intensely funny, exciting and without losing the comedy and tongue-in-cheek that made the first movie such a delight. Maybe just one small point, i somehow wish the third movie would have been released closer to this one considering how close it follows story-wise. But that is just a small complaint, something that will make the arrival of the third movie all the more exciting.
7/10