Definitely the best done of the series. Pretty entertaining if you don't see it too often.

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2016)

Although this series has spiraled downward in quality, this first installment was a good place to start. It introduces all of the themes that drive the sequels, even though there is a relatively small connection between this and Dead Man's Chest. The most prominent theme is whether all laws can be considered just which we see with both Norrington's use and abuse of his military position to hunt pirates, and the ambiguity of the pirate code. Less prominent is the theme of selfishness. Jack is easily the most selfish character, but seems to do this for show as a deception. As we learn later, Jack's compass is actually run by people's desires. Even here, the plot is driven by each character's desires and how they cause conflict. And these conflicts are only resolved by selflessness as with Will sacrificing his life for Elizabeth, Elizabeth allowing Norrington to marry her to save Will, the crew abandoning the code to save Jack, and Norrington's actions at the very end. Those aren't great examples, but much more concrete resolutions through selflessness come later in the series.
The characters are very well done, both major and minor. All are given attention, personality, and motives in the case of the main characters. The fact that a character with as little screen time as Governor Swann has motives and contributes to others' motives says something. Each character's exposition is pretty much spot-on and fits the situation naturally without involving any dull or implausible "information dumps" about the current situation. Any information dumps come well after we have met and have a sense of each character. It helps that the characters are very likable from Jack Sparrow's witticisms and quirks, Will's blunders and passions, Barbossa's dramatic tones, Elizabeth's ability to excercise whatever power she has over her enemies, and the various eccentricities of each crew. In addition to that, there is no true protagonist, but everyone plays the villain at some point with the exception of Will and Elizabeth. But despite that, there is a degree of sympathy that you can have for each character including Barbossa and Norrington.
The plot gets a bit complicated, and it's definitely worth it to stop midway through and run through the story so far with the help of a friend or some other spoiler-free source of information. The most confusing thing about my first viewing was how the curse worked, but once I made sense of it I appreciated the movie more. Even when there aren't action scenes, the story moves along at a decent pace and remains entertaining and interesting. Of course, some of this loses it's effect if you know the story too well, so I recommend that you wait a couple years before re-watching it.
In light of modern spfx, some of the visuals are a little laughable, but are still pretty good for the time. The acting was pretty good for an action movie, with Johnny Depp stealing the show as Jack. There is a lot of action with the fast-paced sword duels, sea battles, and the sacking of Port Royal. The choreography is pretty good, and all of the action is exciting and fun rather than brutal. The script was really well done, easily the best of the series, both in it's dialogue and scene structure. Gore Verbinski did a pretty good job directing too.
As it's a Disney movie it's geared a little bit for kids, but not too strongly. I certainly enjoyed it more when I was about 12 or 13, but it's still pretty fun to watch now. The PG-13 rating is warranted but it's well on the mild side. I would recommend buying it at some point if you enjoy it and haven't already, especially since you can probably get it used for less than $5. There's potential for it to be annoying, especially if you're looking for flaws and can understand the story. But on the whole there aren't any glaring mistakes. So definitely rent it if you enjoy fun, exciting, and thematic movies. Overall Rating: 8.5/10.