As Fun as an Amusement Ride

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2005)

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is an over-the-top romp that's just plain fun. Gee, much like an amusement park ride.
Too bad the roster of good actors (including from British TV comedies "The Office" and "Coupling") were clearly directed to lay it all on broadly (except Jonathan Pryce who is very atypically laid-back and therefore wasted).
Orlando Bloom doesn't get to do too much, Geoffrey Rush has a ball being a villain, while Johnny Depp steals the show with his loopy pirate captain (I like most folks comparison of him to Keith Richards). I figure the only reason he plays it sort of drunken and crazy is to not add an unintentional romantic triangle with a very contemporarily feisty Keira Knightley.
For all the action, there's too many close-ups and not enough opportunity to take it all in from a broader perspective.
Stay through the extensive credits (and, evidently yes, they did film some of it in the Caribbean) to see a cute plot coda.
The music is so bombastic and continuous that it's not completely attributed to just Hans Zimmer but to a large team.
(originally written 7/16/2003)