Worthy sequel, iffy plot

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2017)

Curse of the Black Pearl opened in white, shrouded in deep fog. Focused on whites and Earth tones, the opening was ominous and brooding. That is not the case for Dead Man's Chest, where it opens in blues and greens. Sadness and horror both are the main focus of emotion for the opening sequence. Opening with a dreadful wedding day, that sense of dread is heightened past the first couple of minutes when the real horror begins. Dark, dreary, and truly horrifying, the prison scene really sets the mood for what is to come. Dead Man's Chest is dark in a literal sense, but not so much in the story. There are many points throughout the film where it does explore some dark themes, especially with the introduction of Davy Jones' character. This character seems to be the main focal point of the darkness, which he brings throughout the entire film. The rest of the film is much lighter than the first, still maintaining to throw in some jokes, even during the darker parts of the film. The CGI is remarkable, especially with the film's release date. 2006 was when CGI really was starting to get good, and this film shows just how good it was able to be. Seeing the images before the computer images were introduced are remarkable, with the artists doing a beautiful job creating the characters that are part of Davy Jones's crew. Even the kraken does look realistic, especially with the first introduction. It's remarkable to see where CGI has went, and this really is one of the first films that I can recall that shows just how good Disney's animation was at the time. The biggest problem with Dead Man's Chest wasn't anything with the plot, but rather, the focus of the film. The focus of the film was very broad, as it introduced many characters. Out of all of these new characters, there is one the stood out the most, which would be Davy Jones. Throughout the film, any scene with this character was amazing, which is due to Bill Nighy's electric performance. This one character outshone every character, especially the returning characters. The focus should have bee more aimed toward the characters that were the main characters, not the new villain. Dead Man's Chest may not be as good as Curse of the Black Pearl, but it is still an amazing adventure film. This is the weakest film out of the original trilogy, mainly due to the introduction of so many characters, where the focus seemed to shift from Jack Sparrow and crew to Davy Jones and crew. Nonetheless, this film still is a fun pirate adventure that was a landmark for CGI.