 The New York Times said, "You put down your money – still less than $ 10 in most cities – and in return you get two and a half hours of spirited swashbuckling, and Gore Verbinski has an appropriate sense of mischief, as a well as a gift, nearly equaling those of Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, for integrating CGI seamlessly into his cinematic compositions." Empire magazine gave the film 3 stars saying "Depp is once again an unmitigated joy as Captain Sparrow, delivering another eye-darting, word-slurring turn with some wonderful slapstick flourishes. Indeed, Rossio and Elliot smartly exploit these in some wonderful action set-pieces." "We don ’ t get the predictable ‘ all friends together on the same quest ’ structure, and there ’ s a surfeit of surprises, crosses and double-crosses and cheeky character beats which stay true to the original ’ s anti-heroic sense of fun. After all, Jack Sparrow is a pirate, a bad guy in a hero ’ s hat, a man driven by self-gain over concern for the greater good, who will run away from a fight and cheat his ‘ friends ’ without a second ’ s thought." Lord McLovin of MovieWeb said "The second tale of Captain Jack Sparrow is another epic adventure!"
