Twisted fun!

Rating: 6/10 (7 July 2006)

What a fun, demented movie! After the original pirates, I wasn't sure if a sequel could stay as clever and offbeat, but Dean Man's Chest delivers on nearly every front! Yes, it's great to see Johnny Depp's bizarre creation, Jack Sparrow, again, and this time to peer into his mind. The original film never really took a close look at the character, who returns this time with motivation, complexity, and (perhaps) genuine conflicting emotions. This installment also takes care of Orlando Bloom, whose character is given much more of a chance to be both leading man and action hero. Only Keira Knightley is given the short shrift, giving a great performance but only having a few scenes that really give her a chance to do anything with her character.
The special effects are as spectacular as it gets in this jaded age of CGI, and the fight sequences are intense and energetic. But what I loved the most about this movie was how wonderfully weird and demented it is. I won't give anything away, but just from the trailer you can already see Jack's eye makeup, a duel on a rolling mill wheel, and a villain with an octopus for a head, all much fresher and more demented than anything you usually find in Hollywood outside of the realm of Tim Burton. I had no idea Disney did things like that! This movie definitely lacks the strong, uncontrived storyline of its predecessor, clumsily maneuvering a number of contrivances to get the story rolling. The resulting plot is more a travelogue than anything, but fun nevertheless. It also picks up speed toward the end, and, for a film that sets itself up for the next installment, still works pretty well as standalone fare.
Anyway, this movie, like the first, is first and foremost an exercise in camp and offbeat swashbucklery, which it delivers beautifully. Be warned that there are frequent references to the original film, many of them clever, others quite predictable. Still, as an extension of the original world and characters of Pirates of the Caribbean, this movie excels takes the cake, and in terms of blockbuster entertainment, there's nothing fresher or better under the sun.