Depp and Rush play 'Pirates'.

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2008)

My Take: A charismatic and hilarious performance by Johnny Depp is the icing of the cake in this terrific, if somewhat overrated, summer flick.
After all the talks, the publicity and all else in its hype, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN premiered in theaters during its release date with a bang. This is a summer movie with a hype that reaches the moon, but this one actually lives up to it. PIRATES is very long, too long in fact even for a big-budget event film, but for half of its running time, PIRATES is a good ride.
Special effects and action scenes galore, the real treat is Johnny Depp, delightful as the drunkenly quire Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate who lost his ship, the Black Pearl, to another captain (Geoffrey Rush), who is also curse with eternal damnation when they are damned to walk the earth as undead seafarers. After the crew of the Black Pearl invade the peaceful town of Port Royale and kidnaps the Governor's Daughter Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley), childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) aids the help of Sparrow to find her and get her back. Swashbuckling action and a lot of special effects ensues.
In fact, so much of these action and effects occupy the entire picture, yet the film does what every summer movie does: more. So much more of the stuff that already is plenty in this film gives us too much of the bargain. Special effects after special effects do get tedious after a while. Still, for a summer movie, PIRATES kept its promise, and, here's the question: Did it live up to the hype? Sure it did. Although imperfect, legions of fans will not be disappointed.
Rating: **** out of 5.