An excellent, if overly dark, adventure film. Expect no more and you WILL enjoy it.

Rating: 8/10 (20 August 2006)

I enjoyed it. Let's set our expectations sufficiently low here: if you're expecting a piece of cinema that will satisfy you on a critical level, excelling in all the ordinary boxes of plot, character development et cetera, you'll probably be disappointed. The plot is silly and meandering and character development is clichéd (the father thing) and forced.
That's not what this film is about. It's a family adventure film, a swashbuckler. Personally, my criteria for this genre, which I enjoy very much, would be inventive and exciting fight scenes, a little light-hearted comedy and characters that are likable and fun without necessarily having to be compelling or three-dimensional (though it'd help, of course), and spectacular effects, visual feasts and music that capture the imagination.
This film has these in spades. The fights are fantastic and so original it doesn't matter if they're a bit ridiculous. Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow is in my view as cool as ever while remaining the classic pirate - his last scene in the film (I won't ruin it) stays in the mind for hours after you leave. It's so powerful and awe-inspiring. Once again the environments and scenes, from Tortuga to the islands visited to the ships, are enchanting. The music, though unchanged, remains the brilliantly exciting and dramatic adventure score it always was (I played it in my head during a rugby game while on tour, it's that heart-pounding. I definitely played better. This film will improve your rugby - further incentive.) The issue of violence and darkness is one valid area of concern. There are some nasty bits in this film and some pretty freaky monsters - wait until you see Davey Jones' crew, for one. I'd be careful about bringing your youngest. More than that, however, is the notion that the very imaginative ideas, but very dark ones, that they had in this film might have been better suited in a film that wasn't aimed at families. This would have been better as an adventure thriller with a higher rating. All the ideas are there but they're a bit out of place in a film with Road Runner-esquire cartoon comedy sequences (seriously).
These remain minor issues. This film is not a critically satisfying piece of cinema. But we're not all critics. Expect a funny, passionate and fiercely exciting adventure film and you will be richly rewarded. Promise.