The Dark Side to Disney

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2006)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was one of those phenomenal films that hasn't come along since Star Wars: A New Hope, a rollicking, fun, summer adventure film that reinvigorates a genre and makes you want to go to the movies again. Well if Black Pearl is A New Hope then Dead Man's Chest is easily the new Empire Strikes Back. The film is darker, more violent, more frightening, and more cynical than the first, showing the side of piracy that was glamorized in the first. The backstabbing, the lying, the stealing, the double edged sword of morality is shown and the true pitfalls of the profession are revealed.
We start out on the wedding day of Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, which has been interrupted by new chief villain Lord Cutler Beckett. Because of that little escape at the end of the first film where they allowed Capt. Jack Sparrow to escape Will, Liz, and Norrington (who has since left his position in the Royal Navy) are all under arrest. The only way Beckett will show mercy on these young lovebirds is if Will can retrieve Sparrow's compass.
Jack Sparrow however has different uses for the compass, he needs it to find the chest of Davy Jones (which holds his heart), and is the only thing that can help Jack call off Jones' monstrous Krakken from the Sparrow hunt. Will agrees to help Jack in return for the compass and what follows is a swashbuckling adventure that outdoes the first in both action, humor, plot, character development, and mystery. Do yourself a favor and return to a time when movies were fun, thought provoking, and left you wanting more by watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.