Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Rating: 5/10 (10 November 2019)

Directed by Gore Verbinski. Starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin R. McNally, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook, Giles New, Angus Barnett, Damian O'Hare, Zoe Saldana. (PG-13)
Bloated pirate swashbuckler, superficially based on the Disney theme park attraction (because a Broadway musical about log flumes was considered too daring?), accompanied by supernatural elements that co-mingle with the usual cannon fire and swordplay. Depp is the grogged-up and swishy Jack Sparrow, former captain of the "cursed" ship, the Black Pearl; he reluctantly teams up with a blacksmith (Bloom) to thwart the villainous, ghostly Barbossa (Rush), who has kidnapped Bloom's lady love (Knightley). Stylish, atmospheric, intricately-designed production has plenty of action and humor, dominated by an enjoyably amusing performance from Depp, even if a little less of him would have made him more endearing. Unfortunately, the film is also fatally overlong, with at least one too many large-scale action sequences, not to mention repetitive fights that go on and on, long past the point that mild excitement transitions to tedium (overall interest dies out sometime in the middle of the broadside-bombarding sea battle...and there's still almost an hour left to go!). The first film under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to earn a PG-13 rating, which no doubt helped it attract the lucrative teenager crowd and turn it into a major blockbuster; big enough, it seems, to warrant four sequels to date.
55/100