Uneven to say the least...

Rating: Null/10 (9 September 2003)

...at most, a fun movie. Without the presence of Depp, this would have been just another summer movie. Which in itself, is a testament to the prerogative of "the actor". Unfortunately, the director was unable to develop what JD had given him. What lay behind the facade of Sparrow? What drove him? Where did he come from? Did he like girls? And so on... As for the bad guy - too benign to be fearsome. You can't be subtle as a pirate in a pirate movie and Geoffrey Rush was perhaps a little too unwilling to assume the absurd. Our dashing hero was nice - not much else to expect from such a role. And the closest our heroine ever got to lustiness was a brief moment of pretense on the island with Sparrow. The commodore was a nice touch - beautifully understated by Jack Davenport. It was not too often that the British admiralty was painted in a good light when up against movie pirates. The movie also looked like it was shot on a back lot at Disney. The computer generated opening scene of the approaching ship was particularly unrealistic. But that said, I will probably see it again on DVD.