better than I expected

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2003)

I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would. Sure, the casting is great, but does every ride at Disneyland need to be a movie now?

But back on track, 'Pirates' is good fun. Very tongue-in-cheek. Johnny Depp's Cap'n Jack Sparrow is hilarious. Just about everything Geoffrey Rush does is worth watching. Once I got past Keira Knightley's amazing resemblance to Natalie Portman-it took me about half of `Bend It Like Beckham' to figure she was too tall to be Natalie, so who was she?-it wasn't hard to see there is much more to her than just a lookalike. Orlando Bloom is...well... Orlando Bloom (I'm smiling while I type this). Though he really doesn't have much to do except look smoldery and act rashly, which applies to Depp and Knightley, too, depending on the moment.
It's a little hard to figure who the protagonist is, but I didn't mind too much. There are several bouts of swordplay that look great but lean toward the pointless side (please ignore the pun). A lot more is going on than is necessary: a lot of quirky little subplots that the house enjoyed but that don't really go anywhere. Over all the film is really quite long, and begins to feel like it; trimming would have helped, not hindered. The special effects were great, and Verbinski didn't dwell on them as other directors would have (thank goodness). All of that aside, though, I had a good time. I have always been impressed with Johnny Depp and thought him capable of much more versatility than he receives credit for; I think this piece demonstrates that versatility, as did the pleasant surprise that was `From Hell'. And he is hot, even with nasty teeth and eye-shadow. Huzzah that someone finally made a stomach-able pirate flick! I'll give it a B+.