Now I’ll admit that as of this review, I have never been to Disneyland and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that this movie is based on. Still, I can say with certainty that after watching the semi-inspired movie tie in The Curse of the Black Pearl, I am more than curious to one day ride the ride itself because this movie turns out to be such a fun experience with likable characters and creative set-pieces. This would be the first Disney movie to get a PG-13 rating and thankfully it takes full advantage of that fact by creating an epic adventure that may not be perfect but is worth sailing along.
Years ago a young Elizabeth Swan discovers a boy named Willam Turner drifting on the sea after a shipwreck only to be rescued by sailors on the ship. Years pass and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) is set to marry someone she doesn’t love but is then captured by pirates of the Black Pearl lead by Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush). Witnessing Elizabeth’s capture, a grown-up Willam (Orlando Bloom) gets the help of a recently captured pirate named Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to aid him in will’s quest to find and save Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth learns the truth aboard the ship called the black pearl as its pirates are left with a terrible curse that can only be broken by the blood of Willam Turner.
I believe the reason this movie has won over so many moviegoers would have to be its unusual but adventurous storytelling that captures the feeling of being a pirate. From what I’ve heard, the movie only has only minimal connections to the ride this film inspired, but the filmmakers did a great job at creating new storylines that are intense and creatively utilized. The storyline for the actual curse from the pirates of the black pearl is still just as haunting now as it was back in 2003 and because of the PG-13 rating, the film tries risky and somewhat violent ideas that you’d never see in your typical family-friendly live-action Disney movie. The characters are likable and fun with the main star being Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Admittedly I’m not a Johnny Depp fan, but his performance as Sparrow proved to be quite the show stopper. His unpredictability and old pirate charm make this movie especially worth seeing. The other characters such as Willam and Elizabeth admittedly are a tad bit boring but not boring enough to distract from the fun adventure.
The cinematography is very ambitious and as it mixes the typical pirate adventure visuals with some out-of-the-box creative visuals that make the experience rather memorable. The costuming is great and gives the illusion of being in a different period of time. There is a great mix of practical stunts and sets with some pretty good CGI that still holds up knowing it was from 2003. The action is well put together and the sword fighting is well choreographed. It’s quite impressive that Disney gave an okay to make the movie more violent than what they are used to, but the risk in my opinion paid off and it allowed this movie to have more of a graphic edge without losing its creativity in the process. The whole movie feels like a pirate adventure but it has enough of a creative edge to make it stand out from many other pirate adventures in entertainment.Finally the music score was a collaboration between Klaus badelt who scored the first three X-Men movies and the legendary Hanz Zimmer who scored The Lion King and The Prince of Egypt. The collaboration turned into something great as the score is most likely to having you feel like a pirate in a adventure unlike no other.
Even without riding the ride, I found that I liked the Pirates of the Caribbean movie titled The Curse of the Black Pearl. Sure, some of the storytelling and characters could have been worked upon a little bit more but the people at Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Studios have delivered an epic pirate adventure with great visuals and an epic movie score to boot. This movie would start a franchise that many people feel devise on, but I can say with pride that The Curse of the Black Pearl is still worth climbing aboard even to this very day.
(Final Grade: B+)