It's a comedy and a romance and I feel it's all the better for it.

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2004)

In the mid-18th century, it can be difficult for a motley crew of pirates to make a name for themselves on the high seven seas. The Black Pearl is the exception. Boasting a star-studded crew, this whale of a ship has already slaughtered the US Box Office, and is set to do the same when she sails to European shores later this month. Featuring plenty of buckling swash, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl' is quickly becoming this years must-sea action/ adventure blockbuster. Inspired by the infamous ride of the same name at Disneyworld, Producer Jerry Brockheimer has made sure no expense has been spared to reproduce a big screen replica that keeps true to the genre of a swashbuckling pirate adventure. Do not fear though! If you've been waiting for a decent pirate film for this decade, that spares you corny accents and puns, then this could just be the film for you!
The film's plot is centered on the cursed, un-dead pirates of the mysterious ghost ship of legend  the Black Pearl. She and her compatriots are on a quest. A quest to find all the Aztec gold medallions that cursed them. And it just so happens that a child Elizabeth Swann stumbles upon one around the young Will Turner's neck when he is rescued by Swann and her father, Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce). Unfortunately, the medallion, which Elizabeth took to hide Will's piracy, sends out a signal to the pirates when it falls into the sea years later  a time when Elizabeth is set to marry Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport); and a blacksmith Will Turner can only look on as his love is married (His love being Elizabeth not Norrington). Thus a hoard of gibbering, unkillable pirates; led by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), follows to destroy the town of Port Royal where Swann is living, and retrieve their stolen item.
Thus, with her having been kidnapped by the pirates, heart-broken gentlemen Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Norrington set sail after the Black Pearl. Sounds good doesn't it?
Yes, but it's not perfect. The plot is riddled with holes, so it doesn't all make total sense, but like the ride it is based on, the film moves on before you have time to think too hard about anything. However, don't go to this film wanting an ideal remix of an old genre; yes Verbinski and Brockheimer have breathed new life into the mould, but rather than getting a full on swashbuckler, it's a comedy and a romance, and I feel its all the better for it.
The brunt of the goodness in this film is carried by Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow), who's comic portrayal of Jack Sparrow (Captain Jack Sparrow) is comparable to a drugged out rock star who clings to his half-fame like a life raft. It is a performance that could have been awful but he pitches it just perfectly and stops the film ever becoming anything less than fun.
Zoom In Elizabeth Swann may have the looks and the rich  posh background, but we quickly see her develop into an unusual heroine in this film. Unlike her contemporaries, such as Maid Marion in 'Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves', Miss. Swann plays a rather more pivotal role  moreover, a more active role. Rather than playing a 'Damsel in Distress', a convention for women in this sort of genre, she's central to the story and gets involved with her own share of the action and the fighting, daring to attack the pirates and even Barbossa, and she saves hers and others lives a plenty. So although she may have the beauty, innocence, money, clothes, and the attraction to all the men around her like the traditional stereotype, she is not a girl to be messed with - feisty, smart, brave and witty. Definitely a 'Modern girl stuck in an eighteenth century world' (Keira Knightley on Elizabeth Swann).