Best movie this summer

Rating: 10/10 (16 July 2003)

WOW.
It's not often I watch a whole movie with a smile on my face, but I did with this one. It was a delight from start to finish, and I can't think of anything bad to say about it aside from the fact that it bugs me that Jerry Bruckheimer actually produced something I liked.
Here's the top ten things I loved about this movie:
1) Johnny Depp. A simply amazing, scene-stealing, MOVIE-stealing performance. Pure genius.
2) Restrained use of CGI. It was thrilling to see REAL PEOPLE swinging from the ropes on those ships. And the CGI is effectively employed when it is used, especially during the underwater march of the cursed pirates.
3) Johnny Depp.
4) A great cast. Orlando Bloom doing an amazing impression of a young Errol Flynn and holding his own in scenes with Depp. I look forward to watching this guy's career. Geoffrey Rush doing a great job as the villain and making him almost as fascinating as Depp's Jack Sparrow. And Keira Knightly as a beautiful, smart, believably spunky heroine. Can't wait to see more of her! Uh, I mean, in other movies. Acting. That's what I meant. What did you think I meant? Get your mind out of the gutter. Oh, and Johnny Depp is great, too!
5) Everything you'd expect in a pirate movie, including a talking parrot, a monkey, Spanish gold, a ship battle, a young hero of uncertain lineage, the governor's daughter, walking the plank, "Avast!", "Davey Jones' Locker", hats with big feathers in them...and yet it NEVER seems cliched.

6) Johnny Depp.
7) The exhilarating music.
8) A movie without one use of the F-word, not to mention a restrained amount of swearing since this IS a pirate movie. Oh, and no nudity or car chases or buildings exploding. It is summer, isn't it?
9) Amazing fight sequences; the early, acrobatic sword fight between Depp and Bloom, and the ship battle, were stand-outs.
10) Oh, yeah, and Johnny Depp is great! Did I mention that?
I'm a big fan of the two recent Mummy films, and I think this one falls into that category of enormously fun, endlessly entertaining adventure flicks. There's nothing profound here, but hey, it's summer, and this movie is great fun. This is one of the few times in my life when I've said this, but God, I hope they do a sequel! 9/10