Popcorn-flick at its BEST!

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2013)

In 1996, the movie "Independence Day" by Roland Emerich proved that entertainment films, which usually come out in summer (in other words, summer movies, the ones that only serve for a good popcorn) could have a high quality in various aspects from the very story, script and performances. And Gore Verbinski and the writers of "Shrek" (Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio) with "Pirates" proved that once again in big! "Pirates" has everything that a summer movie needs to be pure entertainment, from the romantic story of the blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to the beautiful daughter of the governor of Port Royal (Jonathan Pryce), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). That begins to go awry when the weird pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) appears in Port Royal and soon after him the cursed crew of the "Black Pearl" led by the cruel Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
Like I said, from romance to comedy and action, everything that a popcorn film needs. But thanks to Verbinski, everything can go much higher and better that we expected. Since the beginning, the film presents a superb script with a good, flowing and entertaining narrative (surprising for a entertainment film), that goes from memorable phrases to intelligent humor, and the plot really takes something pretty serious without exaggerating as other films have tried and failed. But it's not just comedy that elevates the film, is the "tone-change" that the film has: in scenes between Elizabeth and Will the film seems to have a dramatic tone but never gets to be boring or dry; when Barbossa and his cursed crew appear everything gets dark and kind of scary. But thanks to Jack Sparrow, at all times we have a really good and funny comic relief.
The film also contains a superb direction of Verbinski in all scenes, giving the film also pretty adventurous moments when you see the great and vast Caribbean, and also epic moments of action that range from fun choreographed chase-sequences to epic battles between pirate's ships against another. Ah, speaking of pirates, Verbinski seems to have grabbed almost all the clichés of pirates and thrown in the movie: one speaker parrot on a pirate's shoulder (no, neither Sparrow or Barbossa, one seems to have something against animals and Barbossa has a annoying monkey); dirty teeth and horrible breath; the favorite drink of any pirate, rum; and the British navy with elegant gentlemen leading them against pirates, and much more! Now the performances, even Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom have a good romantic connection in their characters, their acting doesn't shine much in this movie (they shine much more in the unnecessary but great sequels that the movie had). Perhaps the reason for this is the superb Geoffrey Rush, that perfectly embodying the spirit of a Pirate since the evilness to the "aarrgghhh", OR the highest and memorable point of the film that is the EXCELLENT performance by Johnny Depp as the unforgettable Jack Sparrow. His performance was so weird, so fun and so good that it cost him his varied roles in films like the weird and funny guy.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" can be one of the several examples that entertainment can simultaneously be VERY fun; well written; well-acted; well directed and contain a luxurious soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, "Pirates" is entertainment and popcorn-flick at its best and much more! 10/10