Twenty Minutes of Movie in Two and a Half Hours

Rating: 3/10 (11 July 2006)

The first movie was great, a good balance of comedy and gags with a great and suspenseful story line. This one not so much. THe plot for the entire movie could have been adequately told in a twenty minute movie, complete with fun action scenes and effects. Instead they extended every action scene far, far, beyond what it should've been, resulting in the gags getting old and boring, and spread the story out over far too much movie. After a while of this I found myself constantly wondering when the current scene was about to end, and eventually just wanting the whole damn movie to be over.
The one thing about this movie I found anything approaching good was the effects. The effects teams did wonderful jobs and deserve their due.
In the end though, none of this matters. The fan-boys and girls of Depp and the Pirates franchise will ogle over it and things it's great, the rest of us who enjoy more than mindless action scenes will find it dull and forgettable.
Here's to hoping the third is better.