Now that's probably the best pirate I have ever seen (Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse Of The Black Pearl (DVD))

Member Name: FairyWBO

Product:	Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse Of The Black Pearl (DVD)
Date:	17/12/03 (3269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ships, Scenery, Everything

Disadvantages: I can't watch it 24 hours a day

When I was in Disneyland...... Many, many years ago (23 years actually!) I went on a strange ride called Pirates of the Caribbean.... Which promptly broke down as we were under a bridge by a pirate swigging rum and singing a pirate song! At the time I did wonder why this ride was even there... I know the animatronics were good, but nearly all the other rides had something too do with Disney Films.... Was this one I missed?

Imagine my delight when I found out they had actually made a film of the ride, rather than the other way round! My first thought was "I wonder if it will break down half way through?" And my second thought which I must admit slightly terrified me was "What if they make It's a small world film!!!" But that would be a horror tale of a different nature :oP

Suppose I had better tell you about the film... Rather than the ride..... As I have forgotten most of that..... But I do remember the film.... Vividly :oP

Where to begin......

It starts with a small girl on a big boat, sorry ship, singing a pirate song (not sure if it is the same song as the pirate we got stuck by on the ride.... But what if it was... Spooky. lol!) She is berated as it is bad luck, and lo and behold.... there is a wreck of a ship and a tatty black pirate ship sailing off in the distance! From the wreck a young boy is rescued, after being spotted by Elizabeth, the small girl.
Around the boys neck is a medallion that Elizabeth spots and rips off the boys neck in the fear that he is a pirate, and will be treated as such by the naval officers. This she hides away.

But this is all in the past... Elizabeth (Keira Knightley, that looks just like Queen Amidala, but isn't, but she was her decoy) is now grown and so is the young boy, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom or Legolas without the blonde wig and bow). She is the governors daughter and he is a blacksmiths apprentice, so they are out of each others league, so to
speak.

Elizabeth's father (Jonathan Pryce from more films than I can think of) wants her to settle down with the naval officer (Jack Davenport, Steve from Coupling or the mastercard advert voice) on the boat they came over to the Caribbean on from England, as he is about to become a Commodore. Typical English snobbery in all it's glory!

Now we come to the best bit..... Enter Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp)... on the mast of a sinking boat. Too much eyeliner and a funny look on his face. He swaggers about, and talks, walks and acts like he owns the place, in the most comical way.

In the middle of trying to steal the fleets fastest ship, Jack has to rescue Elizabeth from drowning as she is overcome by a rather tight girdle and has fainted off a high cliff and fallen into the sea, just as the new Commodore proposed marriage to her!

Whilst under the water the medallion that she found round the young Wills neck, seems to throb and send out a shock wave. Once out of the water Jack is arrested for being a pirate and makes a heroic escape.... Almost.....

Whoops... Think I am going into a tad too much detail here... I could give you a blow by blow account of the whole film... But I won't, as you should see it yourself.... So here is a bit less detailed version...

After a fight in the blacksmiths between Jack and Will, Jack is thrown in prison. That night the Black Pearl comes into the harbour and causes all kinds of chaos as the crew search for the medallion, killing anyone that gets in the way. Elizabeth is taken to Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush), by two comic relief type pirates (one of whom is the TA bloke in The Office... But his name escapes me at the moment).

They want the medallion and she knows it..... But tells them her name is Elizabeth Turner.... Big mistake!

They take her off, and Will wants to follow. But he has to break Jack out of jail to do this as the navy want nothing to
do with him, as he is only a blacksmith. They steal a ship... Brilliantly.. I won't tell you how, as it is worth not knowing when you watch, and sail off to get a crew and sort out Black Pearls crew.

The crew of the Black Pearl are cursed...... Meaning that they are now undead and will remain so until all the medallions, or gold coins are back from where they nicked them from.... Elizabeth has the last coin, but there is also a blood debt to be paid and this is where Will comes in.

I won't say anymore, except just when you think everything is worked out for the good, then another bit of story comes along and keeps you wanting more.

Throughout the film you can't really tell who's side Jack is really on, one minute you think he is being good, then the next you think "Oh he is on the bad pirates side after all"... Well I did anyway! But I was too busy watching him prance about to really care! :oP

The special effects where the cursed crew go into the moonlight and you can see what they really look like are marvellous... Especially in the treasure cave.

Also for me the ships where beautiful, but then I have always been a sucker for a fully rigged up old sailing ship.

There is action, comedy, romance and the undead.... Sounds like the ideal film to me! And it was/is.

My favourite bit has to be on the ship after Will has been told that Jack was left on a deserted island in the sun too long, and asks "Is that the reason for his....." Wobbles and funny look on face! (I can't explain it in words... You have to see it)!

I think Johnny Depp is the only American in the film..... I could be wrong though! As they seem to be getting better at English accents.. Well sort of. Lol! But the amount of smaller part English actors in the film is great considering it is a Disney after all. So it wasn't just the baddies that were English for a change.

On the subje
ct of it being a Disney, it is great to see them going into older audience films without losing the Disney name as a 12a. And as for the fact that kiddies can watch it with adults, even with all the undead walking about is great. I remember the days of Sinbad, and Jason and the Argonauts, when we got see wonderfully scary stuff. With the violence about just on the TV alone it is amazing people still think this is too much for kids! I have neighbours that literally went into shock when I told them I took Andrew, who is 7 to see it! Obviously it is too much for some of them..... But parents should know what their own kids can and can't watch without having nightmares for weeks!

All in all, I think it is a great family film (unless your kids don't like zombie type ghosts running about) There is plenty of action, and the story line is easy to follow without it being too simple. There are plenty of laughs too. It would have been better if I had seen it in a full cinema, as I am sure the atmosphere would be a lot better as the laughs would be better. The 3 times I have seen it there was about 20 others there each time, and they had no sense of humour. Actually expected them to tell us to be quiet the first time we watched it, we laughed so much! :oP

There is a web site of the film too, www.pirates.movie.com.......... This has a game, the film of the opening night in Disneyworld, some snippets of the film and freebies to download. And there is a link to their next film.... The Haunted House.... Oh dear another ride coming to film life! Please stop after you finish this one Disney, before you make It's a Small World.... As the ride was bad enough! I have a fear of dolls.... Totally irrational I know but put it this way.... I can't watch the Chucky films! And the thought of all those singing dolls on a big screen is too much for me! But enough of that scary stuff... Back to Jack.... I mean the film :oP

I think you can tell I loved
the film. I thought Jack was the best character I have seen in a long long time. No, I am not a love struck Johnny Depp fan. But definitely a Jack fan :oP

If Marc Bolan was a pirate he would be Captain Jack Sparrow... Sorry don't know where that came from, apart from the fact that T-Rex were just on the TV. Cap'n Jack is based however on Kieth Richards, so I wasn't far off with the Marc Bolan thing :o)

Both my sons (8 and 13) love this film and between us we have watched it 12 times (at the cinema and now at home on DVD) mind you it's been nearly a week since our last watch so it must be nearly time to watch it again.

If they ever get round to putting up this in the DVD section I will write this all over again, with the extra 10 hours worth of added bits.

Cheers for reading mateys... Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh :oP
Sarah :o)

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