This is great film-making

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2006)

I loved everything about this movie. Every single frame was brilliant: the framing of the shot, the shot sequences, the sets, the makeup the wardrobe, the unbelievable Caribbean vistas... for example, a simple reaction shot of Beckett's face is imbued with surreality. Or the way Sparrow prances around like Bette Davis... a riot! Everything was brilliantly thought out and realized on the screen.
The story is complex on many levels, but the story is perfectly clear in the telling. It never skipped a beat from beginning to end. (In contrast to monstrosities like KONG... YIKES!) Seeing this movie affects you in the way the Treasure Island must have captivated boys in the 19th century. It just sucks you in, and makes you want to be part of its world. You could watch this film over and over and I think it would just get better with each viewing.
As I left the theater, all I could think when I let was "WOW! How did they ever come up with all those great ideas!?!?" And all this from a superlatively lame DisneyWorld ride!
My ONLY moment of "awww, I don't buy THIS!" was when we first meet Gibbs (Sparrow's first mate)... He seemed too well groomed: I couldn't "smell him with my eyes," like all the other pirates. Luckily, he got gamier as the film went on!
I didn't give this movie a 10 because that score I reserve for one-of-a-kind or "life-changing" films (Annie Hall, My Dinner With Andre, Brazil, Mulholland Drive, Sling Blade).
But it was definitely a summer blast, every bit equal to if not better than the original.