Not exactly a Caribbean Cruise

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2006)

This was a fun, rollicking, watery, barnacle encrusted tale of adventure in the Pirate infested West Indies, complete with love, honor, betrayal, revenge, sword-fights and a rain-soaked wedding dress that keeps turning up. The dread pirate Depp, aka Captain Jack Sparrow was in as good a form as ever, and did not disappoint. Appearances of characters we knew from the first film gave the story a familiarity and continuity I hadn't anticipated, and yet the film stands well on its own with lots of characters that have "history" with Jack Sparrow - that guy sure gets around! Knightly and Bloom both turned in stronger performances this time around, which was a pleasant surprise. This film is darker than the first, but there are still plenty of comic moments to provide relief, and sufficient complexities to the characters to give depth where you might expect a caricature.