Yo-ho-ho! Shiver ye timbres at a bonafide guilty-pleasure and fun from beginning to end; Depp is perfect!

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2003)

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003) ***1/2 Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Jonathyn Pryce, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook, Damian O' Hare. Rip-roaring adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction (!) about a cursed platoon of pirates haunting the Caribbean in search of gold (and their souls) leading to a final confrontation with the owner of a certain trinket that holds the curse intact. Depp is a marvel of physical shtick and with comic aplomb steals the movie with his unusual choice of vocal (think a particularly cagey Keith Richards) and acrobatic maneuvers from swordplay to flights of fancy. Bloom holds his own as the straight-man like hero out to save the damsel in distress (the fetching Knightley) while battling the raggedly nasty villainous Rush as the captain of the doomed. Fun, fast and a true treat for all audiences that sends-up the genre it clearly embraces and salutes thanks to a witty script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio with Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert; an amazing production design by Brian Morris and skillful direction by Gore Verbinksi.