entertaining for a bit too long

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2006)

the first pirates owed much, if not all, its success to johnny depp's ballsy, unique choices in creating the lovable captain jack sparrow. no surprise, then, that here Jack moves to the forefront of the story. though entertaining, his efforts are not quite as successful the second time around due, unfortunately, to the obsessive media attention that surrounded depp's unusual performance the first time. that being said, this film is still quite fun, if a half hour too long.
Verbinski indulges in ultra long fight scenes (perhaps to make up for the wayward plot line). There are several cute and witty moments within the fights and tiny Keira gets her wealth of fighting. One fun moment comes as she and 2 of Sparrow's men run from and fight a whole host of beastly evil things while tossing only 2 swords between the 3 of them. the last few fights are repetitive, though, and would have been well served with a more daring editor.
as far as sequels go, this film successfully brings back most of the entertaining characters from the original with surprisingly ease. Naomie Harris, Mackenzie Crook, Lee Arenberg among others add a spirited kick to the film as well. like the dead men of the original, the special effects are superb. the evil creature men are perhaps a bit too graphic for the youngest.
let's hope the third doesn't finally run poor ol' jack into the ground.