Sword swashing adventure and plenty of humor

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2003)

Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is not your usual sappy makeover of a theme park ride, no it's much much more. Pirates tells the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and the blacksmith Turner (Orlando Bloom) in thier attempts to rescue Turner's love Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) from the lawless pirates lead by Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). The special effects are excellent and the plot is simple enough to follow along nicely. Sword fighting, cannon booming, and pirate snarling are just a few tacts used in the fighting scenes. Longer than it had to be (cough...like the Hulk) but has enough humor to get you your moneys worth. Rush is great as the demented Barbossa, as is Bloom as the heroine Turner. The show belongs mainly to Depp, with his drunk-slurry Sparrow he manages to conjure up a hilarious performance as if he were preparing for Fear and Loathing 2.