Special Effects: 10, Storyline: 2

Rating: 6/10 (22 July 2006)

I am a HUGE fan of both Depp and the original Pirates. Naturally I went into this movie with a bit of skepticism as I do with ANY sequel. My daughter (15) had seen it twice and raved about it. So my 13 year old son and I went today. As we walked out, he said EXACTLY what was going thru my head: "I was kind of bored". Me, too.
Special effects do not a movie make any more. We've come to expect that. Something that NEVER changes, though, is the critical element of a strong plot, something that "Dead Man's Chest" lacks. As near as my son and I could figure, the whole plot line was that everyone wanted Davy Jones' heart to control the seas. Yawn. The rest was a showcase for some admittedly fantastic special effects.
Another gripe I had with this movie, as I do with many nowdays, is that the trend towards such utterly authentic dialogue almost makes much of the dialogue incomprehensible. Okay, maybe it's because I'm "old" (51) and my hearing sucks. But the dialects used by Naomi Harris (Tia Dalma) as well as the usual cast of ragamuffin sailors, was often impossible to understand. I love the realism; I hate the fact that I missed so much of the dialogue.
It's hard - almost impossible - for a sequel to live up to the expectations of an original. Only a very few ("Aliens" for example) can come close or achieve it. In my opinion, and my son's, "Dead Man's Chest" fell a bit short. Am I glad I saw it? Absolutely. I was moderately entertained. Would I see it again or buy it on DVD? Absolutely not.