Very, very good. But not perfect.

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2003)

Johnny Depp is superb. He makes the movie, hands down, and I couldn't imagine it being anywhere near as good without his magnetic, amusing performance.
The film/locations look stunning, and the story is good. In fact, there's very little wrong with this fun adventure - the effects are superb (especially fighting in & out of the moonlight) - but I don't think it quite lives up to the hype (everyone I know said it was fantastic, but I see a lot more films than they do).
First off, the pacing drags here and there (not really during scenes, but between the set-pieces). The swordfights (and other fighting bits) are inventive, but let down by lacklustre angles and editing.
And in the script, they've tried (a bit too hard) to make comedy duos out of two of the royal officers, and two of the pirates, with scenes that would fit right into a Disney cartoon but only serve to hold up the story in this live action film. And while Geoffrey Rush is always great to watch, he just isn't evil enough.
In fact, I think that's the real fault of the film - it's written as if it were a cartoon. For a comparison, it's not as good as The Goonies.
But go see it. Johnny Depp = most entertaining performance so far this year.