Many Enjoyed it But You May Not

Rating: 2/10 (13 July 2006)

I watched this movie with some friends at the cinemas a long time ago and I'm reviewing it now because ads on TV about the sequel jogged my memory. I can see now that Curse of the Black Pearl is very popular among IMDb members, especially among females and young people. If you are a young female you are much more likely to think you enjoyed this movie than if you are an old man. That's what the demographic breakup statistics say. I remember being very disappointed with this film and one reason why I was disappointed was because it was so long. I remembered getting up at the end of the film and because the film was so long my butt was aching as if someone had jabbed a needle in it. I am not averse to long movies but this one in particular was just not at all entertaining. The first reason for this lack of entertainment I think is the behavior of the characters. Johnny Depp's character is deliberately crazy. If one of my friends were to act like that in real life I would stare at him and after some time I would ask him, "Man, what is wrong with you?" In this movie, I am consistent with my behavior and badly wanted to ask Johnny Depp's character what was with the crazy behavior, but of course Depp is just acting and I obviously can't talk to the character through the theater screen, so that just left me feeling frustrated. Most of the movie is filled with humor that I didn't find funny at all, but many in the audience obviously thought it was very funny. As with the Depp character the humor was just crazy and weird, but of course humor is very subjective so it's a matter of taste I suppose.
Another issue I'd like to bring up are the fight scenes, which I thought were very disappointing as well. The reason is because they were very plain. Usually in a fight scene I like to see something coherent. I want the camera to stay and I want the fight participants to engage in intense, suspenseful, but also aesthetically pleasing fights. The fight scenes in this film don't have that elegance. A bunch of people just get together and the camera cuts and shakes as if we're looking at everything from the perspective of a drunk man.
The plot is another sorry part of the movie. That woman (as you can see I'm not good with names) was your typical annoying pretentious woman and at the end when she kisses the guy I actually said out aloud in the theater, "Oh, please!" How clichéd can you get? It's like a fairy tale your parents might read to you as a kid.