Disappointing sequel

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2006)

Unfortunately, this is nowhere near the brilliance of the first film. Displaying little of the original's charm or wit, it attempts to blow the viewer away by having outlandish action scenes and slapstick comedy that is neither charming nor witty. I felt little to no connection to the characters - even Jack Sparrow himself - and was not even wowed by some of the big action scenes. That's not to say that this is a bad movie; it's just not nearly as good as the first one.
The plot is fairly complicated, with far too many sub-plots. Regrettably, the writers attempted to bring all the characters back and fit them into the story, which leads to some unneeded scenes and extraneous story lines. The first act of the movie - with the tribal natives - is completely unnecessary and could have easily been cut to shave half an hour or so off the running time - something that is sorely needed. Although this is only a few minutes longer than the first, it feels a lot longer - perhaps because the action gets to be a bit too much. The film is trying so hard to be fun that it feels far too forced, and the big action scenes just become monotonous. I actually felt kinda bored at parts, something I never experienced during the first film.
The acting is somewhat decent, with Depp giving another great performance, though admittedly not one as good as the first one. Bloom is the same, Knightley is actually worse, but Nighy as the villain and Skarsgård as Bootstrap are both great. The comedy is much less effective this time around, as there are far fewer funny lines, and it seems the writers had to resort to crude slapstick to bring about more laughs. The fight scenes seem to drag on for too long, though they are well-staged. There's none of the great meld of comedy and action that made the first so memorable - here, it's all very wooden and rigid, nothing feels natural. It's a bit painful to watch at times, actually.
That's not to say that everything about the film is bad. The film's darker scenes are brilliant - everything involving Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman is quite cool to watch, and I would have liked to see more. The voodoo witch scene is interesting, especially the final scene with the return of our favourite villain - a very dramatic entrance. The special effects are quite amazing, especially with Jones' sea creature crew and, of course, the Kraken. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments - less than the original, admittedly, but it's still entertaining. And the entire look of the film is very well done - production design is top notch. The technical quality of the film is outstanding.
It's too bad that this film was so disappointing - it had so much potential, and it squanders it by trying too hard to capture the first film. Unneeded scenes, repetitive action scenes, and forced comedy make this much less entertaining than the first one. I'll probably see it one more time to let it sink in, but for now, it's a definite disappointment.