Fantastic Film, A Must See

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 2014)

Films often draw inspiration from literature, historical events and pre existing works, and screenwriters and directors adapt books the theatre and older movies into modern films. Movies have followed this pattern for a long time and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. This being said, however, creativity and demand for original content often causes deviations in patterns, and inspiration will often be drawn from unlikely sources, once classic resources have become dry. Disney has always been creative in developing imaginary worlds and fictional story lines, in many cases adapting them into rides at their massive theme parks. Creating outstanding story lines requires innovative thinking, and in the case of pirates of the Caribbean, Disney did just that. They reversed their typical cycle of adapting rides after movies and instead drew inspiration for a movie from a ride, thus creating Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The theme park ride had been around for some time, and predated the movie by almost 36 years. The content that the ride offered could be easily adapted into a film given that it depicted a historical time period rather than a modern event. Disney easily and adeptly transformed the idea of swashbuckling pirates from a ride into a movie.
Simply put, Captain Jack Sparrow takes the movie and straps a jet pack to it, launching it into the ozone. Captain Jack Sparrow's character brings the storyline alive and makes for a truly engaging film. In my opinion, Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sparrow is one of the best performances in any movie and is one of my personal favorites. His eccentricity and peculiar mannerisms as Sparrow make the character incredibly interesting and dynamic. Despite seeming drunk at many times Jack is, in reality, very intelligent. Jack uses his wit to be very humorous and often borders inappropriateness. The fact that Disney produced this film is about as shocking to me as it is to hear that the writers originally thought Depp's performance was terrible when it ended up making the movie. Robert Ebert, a renowned film critic had this to say about Depp's performance, "It can be said that his performance is original in its every atom. There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie" (Ebert 1). Ebert follows this statement with assurance that he is not criticizing Depp's performance but rather praising it for its originality and ingenuity. The film is actually graphic in many scenes and has very subtle yet noticeable sexual connotations and adult humor in many instances. This being said it is still able to appeal to younger audiences but might come off as scary to some younger kids. On top of Depp's outstanding the performance the film does a tremendous job balancing out how much of Jack the viewer gets by including Turner, a much more level headed and traditional character. It is also interesting how the characters all seem to be chasing something. Jack is chasing the Pearl and Barbossa. Barbossa in turn, is chasing Turner, while Turner is chasing Swann. This creates an interesting dynamic and constantly keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. The brilliant settings also help make the film great. Despite being only set in the Caribbean, each location is very unique and often exaggerated. For example the island Jack is marooned on is absolutely gorgeous with perfect blue water and white sand while the Barbossa's hideout is jet is black and grim. Another fantastic location comes with the film's depiction of Tortuga. It is shown as a drunken mosh pit of gluttony where barbaric pirates drink themselves to death and fight one another yet this is all shown in a very comedic way. The Internet Movie Database rates the movie an 8.1 out of 10 which compared to many other great films is actually very high considering the highest rating given to any movie is a 9.2. Depp's acting, the other supporting characters' essential roles and the brilliant plot as well as locales make the movie a fantastic film that will set the standard for pirate films for a very long time.