my favorite movie of 2003 - entertaining, lovely

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2004)

Undoubtedly one of the most entertaining, fun, rousing, and exciting adventure-movies of the year, `Pirates' is far better than you think it is. Basically, it is about a pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who teams with Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to rescue a maiden Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and seize back `The Black Pearl,' now captained by Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). The exact plot is rather difficult to explain but not difficult to understand. Even though it is based on a Disneyland ride and produced by Jerry `Kaboom!' Bruckheimer, `Pirates' succeeds because it's so full of charm, humor, wit, and absolutely terrific ensemble acting.

Almost every single existing review of this movie commends Johnny Depp for his funny, original, and wacky take on Captain Jack Sparrow. And that commendation is well deserved; Depp looks like he's having a lot of fun and he's inviting the audience to share it. His numerous and hilarious facial expressions are worth the price of admission alone! (He truly is one of the most talented and under-appreciated actors of todayÂ…he is totally awesome; I can't say enough good things about him.) Because Depp steals every single scene he is in, many critics haven't left room to write about a number of other really terrific performances in the movie. Geoffrey Rush is funny, over-the-top, and pitch-perfect as Captain Barbossa. There is one scene where Rush shines more radiantly than anyone else on the cast: when he is forcing Elizabeth and Captain Jack to walk the plank, Rush har-har-hars and swishes his sword and also has the funniest facial expressions. I also enjoyed the performance of Jack Davenport, as Commodore Norrington; he provided the perfect counterpart of the craziness of Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa. `Pirates' is clearly focused on character acting, which the director and screenwriters have obviously held to be of more importance than explosions and cannons and skewering of people (although there is lots of that too).
To comment (to PRAISE, actually) on a few other things, I think the screenwriters did a fine job of mixing wit and humor into almost every single line of this movie. Captain Jack and Barbossa clearly have the best lines and I can't remember a time where I laughed more in a movie. Also, the violence is tame and rather harmless; I appreciated that. There is nothing too graphic. The visual imagery is absolutely superb and the set design is fantastic; the costumes (especially the pirates costumes) were genuine-looking and looked really well on the actors. It's total eye-candy. And lastly, I can't say enough good things about the music. Klaus Bedelt's score is heroic, bold, and entirely memorable. The music accompanied the movie perfectly but still sounds perfectly marvelous even without the movie.
Everyone involved in the `Pirates' production ought to be incredibly proud for bringing such a magnificent adventure to the big screen. I can't wait until the sequel! `Pirates' is definitely my favorite movie of 2003.