Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Rating: 4/10 (5 July 2006)

POTC: TCOTHBP was occasionally interesting. What can one expect, the movie is based on a ride? Keira Knightley fills well the lovely young woman role. Johnny Depp is occasionally hilarious and interesting.
What largely lacks for POTC is the story (hey, I understand, the ride was supported by effects and posing too, but it is only a few minutes long) and... well... the male second. While one can certainly understand Orlando Bloom's Will Turner's interest in Keira Knightley's Elizabeth, one can't, however, understand the reciprocation. I understand actors' withering beside Johnny Depp's irresistible, on-screen energy and force of personality, but poor Orlando Bloom nearly puddles beneath the glare. For LOTR all he had to do is stretch his neck and furrow his brow and that, beneath his lovely, light locks is what we needed from him there. Unfortunately for us, it seems that producers haven't yet realized that is all he can do.
Geoffrey Rush ranged from over-the-top (which worked) to occasional attempts at being a sympathetic character (which didn't).
There are some decent moments of entertainment including some laugh-out-loud funny lines involving Captain Jack Black. But this is not a keeper -- at most, a renter, preferably a borrower.