One of the Top 250! I don't think so..........

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2005)

I thoroughly enjoyed this very clever movie. It's a fun ride and I really did appreciate Depp's unusual character.
That said, this is no masterpiece. It is, rather, a very enjoyable and expertly done piece of fluff and a rather long advert for Disneyland. It's basically a lovingly rendered rehash of all the well-known clichés of 80 years of swashbuckler films with a bit of "Sinbad the Sailor" thrown in. This is like Ray Harryhausen (all hail!) would have done had he CGI tools at his disposal.
Pirates of the Caribbean is fine entertainment and it's certainly a far better movie than the recent Star Wars efforts. But it's no masterpiece. It pales in the wake of classic swashbucklers like "Captain Blood" (Errol Flynn) or "Treasure Island" (the one with Jackie Cooper and the Disney one with Robert Newton), or even the recent "Master and Commander".
Let's put POTC in the "fantasy" category. Within that context I would rate it much higher than within this TOP 250 FILMS category. It is a great fantasy film.
As a "spoof" it's not in the same class as "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein" or "Love and Death", but it's very close and a job well done.
Good film. Rent it.