I'm swept away!

Rating: 10/10 (5 September 2003)

Just returned from my first viewing of POTC - Sooooooo hilarious, all my nerves are still aching from laughing.
A very clever mix from the best bits and pieces of "Captain Blood", "The Sea Hawk", "The Black Swan" and "The Crimson Pirate" (the carrying of the small boats under water for cover, and disguising extremely ugly pirates as women to distract the attention of the soldiers from the main action), and bits from the Disney ride, like the prisoners trying to convince the dog who has the keys to their cell with a bone to hand them over. Also Captain Barbossa as a skeleton drinking wine resembles a figure at the ride, who is rumored to be a reverence to Errol Flynn, who apparently gave Walt Disney the idea to the ride in the first place. And there is also a nod to "Troy"...
Kira Knightley is as least as graceful and witty as Olivia DeHavilland was in her pirate days, opposite Errol Flynn.
Sword training with the elves has certainly left a mark on Orlando Bloom, and his moves resemble Errol Flynn, not much of a surprise as he has got his major training from Bob Anderson, who had brushed up Errol's movements for one of his last pirate movies "The Master of Ballantrae". Not to forget that he has become a really good actor, and a very handsome one too. But I still kept looking for the pointy ears ...
Johnny Depp is over the top, not as something between Keith Richard and a French cartoon character, but as a mix between Ozzy Osbourne and Robin Hood, with a hint of Burt Lancaster's artistic skills and humor as Vallo in "The Crimson Pirate" thrown in for good measure ...
One of the best movies I have seen for a long time, and certainly one of the best pirate movies I know - and I know pretty much all of them!
I'll see it again tomorrow. And again in the times to come...
Yo-Ho!