Almost as good as the first film

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2013)

Like the first film, this second film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was both funny and entertaining.
In this second film, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (Bloom and Knightley) have been sentenced to death for their part in assisting with the escape of a felon - namely Jack Sparrow. As a sort of 'plea bargain' Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander)informs Will that he will give Elizabeth and Will a pardon if he is able to recover Jack Sparrow's compass. When Will tells Jack that he wants his compass to give to Lord Beckett in order to get a pardon for him and Elizabeth, Jack agrees but only if Will gets him the key for Davy Jones's locker. Jack wants to get to this locker as he believes that it will bestow untold benefits for the person who unlocks this locker. However, Jack isn't the only one who is interested in what's in Davy Jones's locker. There are several parties who are desperate to get their hands on the key for the locker and each person/party has their own reasons for desperately wanting to 'unlock' the locker - but who will get there first? There is no doubt that this is a more than satisfactory entry into the franchise. All the elements from the first film are very much present -there is humour, great effects, the story was good once again and the cinematography was also fantastic. Johnny Depp once again stole the show as Captain Jack Sparrow - he had me in stitches at times (sometimes without evening saying anything). His mannerisms alone made me laugh.
There are a couple of minor negatives to this entry in the POTC franchises; Firstly, there were a couple of times when the film seemed to drag and there was the odd occasion when it got a tad boring (something that definitely couldn't be said about the first film). Secondly, Davy Jones just wasn't a particularly good villain (Captain Barbossa was fantastic in the first film and seemed to have a bit of character). I just didn't feel the same way about Davy Jones, for me he was a pretty forgettable villain). There were a couple of scenes that were completely ridiculous (sword fighting on a rolling wheel & Sparrow pole vaulting head first between two cliffs) but to be honest those scenes were so funny that I really didn't care about how silly they were as I was too busy laughing to care.
Overall then this film is still entertaining and the acting was good by all involved - but the lack of a good villain and a couple of boring moments in the middle of the film let it down slightly. If you're a fan of the first film, then you'll enjoy this film.