Pi-Rights.

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2006)

Wonderfully fun and entertaining sequel dominates due to the technical aspects of film-making and always intriguing characters. Most everyone from the first installment returns as Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, arguably doing equal if not better work than in the original) has a debt to pay off to supernatural captain Davy Jones (the always outstanding Bill Nighy) or otherwise be condemned to an eternity of servitude on a ship of lost souls. Of course all this causes the wedding of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley to be crashed and they get thrown back into high stakes adventure in the Caribbean. Director Gore Verbinski's franchise works most because of Depp as he becomes a cross between The Little Tramp, Detective Clouseau, Indiana Jones, James Bond and even Wile E. Coyote. Depp's character is one of the most textured and likable the cinema has ever seen (even though sometimes you don't know whether to love or loathe the guy). State of the art makeup effects, visual effects, editing, cinematography and art direction cover up the fact that the stories in the series are just window dressings to put seemingly every star and role player in breathtakingly action-packed dramatic and comedic sequences. While flawed (like its predecessor), "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" is a wickedly enjoyable summer blockbuster that does admittedly make me look forward to yet another inevitable installation. 4 stars out of 5.