Reasonable, not great

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 2003)

***Spoilers***
I didn't expect much of this movie, and neither, I assume, did a lot of people given its origins. I was dragged to the movie with a group of friends, and I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. Whilst it wasn't the best movie I have ever seen, and definitely not the most memorable, it was amusing and enjoyable in most places. My biggest concern, though, was the plot holes - if the pirates, once cursed, couldn't die, then how come Orlando Bloom's father was killed by the other pirates? Also, how did he come to be on the ship at the beginning of the film? I didn't think that the plot was thought through, and while the film was fast paced enough for an audience member not to have to worry too much about these errors, I would have rathered a greater amount of continuity in the story. My other concern with the film was the portrayal of the characters of Elizabeth's father and Annamaria. I felt that Elizabeth's father in places was trying to be a comic character, such as during the climax of the film, whereas other times you were expected to take him seriously. Jonathan Pryce is a great actor, and I thought it was a shame that he was stuck in a part with no personality that served either to spell out the feelings of other characters or to give the audience comedic relief. I also would have liked further development of Annamaria, the token black woman on the otherwise politically incorrect, white-male-dominated Interpreter ship. Her only lines seem to be either to make assumptions which are wrong, or to yell at the central characters. There was no real feeling in her character. If the producers had really wanted to be politically correct, they would have served better to either discard the character altogether or make her a more rounded character, rather than inserting her as a prop merely to keep the minority groups happy. Criticisms aside, I though Johnny Depp gave a fine performance, which was quite surprising considering the last movie I saw him in was "From Hell". "Pirates" is an ok movie, not the best release this year, but it will serve as good rental material. 7 out of 10.