Fun but hugely overrated

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2003)

I saw POTC at the cinema and wasn't that blown away by it to be honest. So I rented it to see if maybe I liked it more second time around, seeing as how everybody seems to rate it so highly.
But no, I still think it's overlong, unfunny and...just average really. It's not the worst film ever, but it certainly doesn't deserve the 'best film of the summer' taglines either. There's too much talk and not enough action IMO, and the leads are pretty to look at, but utterly bland in the acting stakes (Bloom and Knightley have all the sexual chemistry of two wet towels being thrown together). And Depp is just annoying. What's so 'brave' about a performance that basically comes down to pretending to be drunk for the entire movie. Brave? I'd call it lazy if anything. And I'm a big Johnny Depp fan, before you beat me with clubs.
Cutthroat Island however, is a much better pirate movie IMO. Hell, all the best action in POTC is stolen from this very movie (the monkey, the ship-to-ship firefight, characters getting trapped in the hold before the ship blows up).
Don't get me wrong, I liked POTC, but can't help but feel it's hugely overrated, especially compared to the bombastic action in Cutthroat Island. I hope POTC 2 is an improvement