Comic Book Entry

Rating: 6/10 (24 July 2006)

The first movie was reserved with it's frolicking about with pirates AND the supernatural, it's highlights wasn't the CGI undead crewing a ghost ship but in the wonderful acting by Johnny Depp and Keira Knightly. The cast had fun making that movie - you can tell.
Enter PotC2: Dead Man's Chest. Oh, it's fun, with Raiders of the Lost Ark cliffhangers that include a rolling mill wheel and globular cages; its sword fights are over the edge; a huge squid pulls down ships and eats them; and some weird guy wanders around darkly with tentacles hanging off his face.
It actually is so garish that it loses its charm, and you are forced to ignore any attempt by the cast to put in a good performance (other than the rollicking Depp) by the sheer magnitude of "Spiderman" special effects. Too much. Ouch. Where's the story? Disney: "Forget a plausible storyline, we'll dazzle the cattle by bright lights and Captain Jack Sparrow jokes." Now I'm being harsh; it's a fun matinée movie and Disney and its constituents have done a marvelous job once again of delivering something that will keep one brainless for it's mega 2 1/2 hour carnival ride.
Cha-Ching!