Very, very entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2004)

'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' is one of the most entertaining films I have seen in years. It is not really great, but every single aspect is terrific and that makes sure you don't see its flaws very easily. One of the flaws is the logic, but in a film like this things are not supposed to be logical, so why bother asking that kind of questions.
The story, pretty standard with the usual twists, is actually quite good, or at least good enough to keep our attention. I could tell you about it but I think it would sound too silly; it kind of is. We have stories about a curse and a pirate ship called the Black Pearl with its Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), we have a pirate named Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), we have a young man named Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) who loves Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). She loves him too but she is about to marry Norrington (Jack Davenport). Her father is Governor Swann (Jonathan Pryce), not the most unimportant person.
What curse there is on the Black Pearl you have to see for yourself. Neither am I going to say why the curse is there. Let me just talk about the good stuff. The visual effects are marvelous. Everything looks (and sounds) great. Locations, costumes, makeup. The sword fights and the battles between the English and the pirates are exciting, there is never a moment you are bored.
It is not all fighting and visual effects. In the quiet moments we have the most wonderful performance from Johnny Depp. His Jack Sparrow is one of the characters from the movies you are going to remember and the fact that he earned an Oscar nomination for this part says enough. He is so good you almost forget the other actors. Geoffrey Rush comes close to Deppp as the villain Barbossa and actors like Bloom and Knightley play their parts quite well. Unfortunately for them they are always in the shadow of the perfect Depp.
There are more good things that make this film entertaining, but I would have to go in detail. I think I have given you enough reasons to see this film (and believe me, Depp alone is reason enough). For a very good time 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black pearl' is as good as it gets.