Loved it.

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2003)

Pirates of the Caribbean is an extremely fun pirate action movie, filled with swashbuckling, cannonball-shooting, corset cleavage displaying, swordfighting revelry. It has all the familiar earmarks of the pirate action movie: A pre-Revolutionary War era settting, an attractive rogue who dances the fine line between bad guy scoundrel and good guy hero, a beautiful damsel in a corset, loyal sidekicks, stiff-as-a-board uniformed authorities, a menacing villain and his henchmen, swordfights, chases, daring escapes, gold treasure, plenty of humor, and oh yeah, a grotesque maritime curse that is deftly utilized by the plot. Hell, there's even a talking parrot.
The audience laughed during all the funny moments, and applauded at the very end. The story moved together very quickly for a two hour and twelve minute film, and I was never anxious to look at the time.
Johnny Depp plays Jack Sparrow, a flamboyant pirate who practically exudes charm from every pore on his skin, and who totally steals the movie by exhibiting the most unique full-body gesticulations when he speaks. After trying unsuccessfully to steal-er, commandeer a ship, he is thwarted by an honorable blacksmith named Will Turner who shares a mutual (if unspoken) affection for the beautiful governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). After she is taken by pirates of the ship Black Pearl in the hopes of helping them to lift a terrible curse that was placed on them years earlier, Will agrees to free the jailed Jack in exchange for helping him rescue Elizabeth, setting them both on a wild adventure filled with cutthroat buccaneers, island caves, and constant reversals of fortune. The movie works because it knows how to use the plot and dialogue to move things forward. The action scenes are a wonder to watch, and even when characters engage in expository dialogue over dinner, one never gets bored, particularly given the pleasant humor that punctuates it. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush have great screen presence, and even Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley become characters that you root for.
There was one thing I didn't get, though: (SPOILER WARNING: In the beginning of the movie, after Jack saves Elizabeth from drowning, he then temporarily takes her hostage to escape the hangman for piracy, telling her, "I saved your life, you save mine." But we later learn near the climax of the movie that he suffers from the curse of immortality. So why take her hostage? He could've just jumped into the water and escaped without her. Hell, he could've been hanged, and it wouldn't have done anything to him. For that matter, why did he suffer from the curse? He told Barbossa that he escaped it because he wasn't present when it struck Barbossa and the others.