The Curse of the Black Pearl

Only this movie is brought alive by Johnny Depp’s eccentric character. Jack Sparrow, or Captain Jack Sparrow as he likes to be called, is a pirate without a ship because the last one he was on was taken over by his mutinous crew.

He finds himself in Port Royal, where as luck would have it, just happens to be the place the cursed crew from his former ship is bound to head to kidnap the governor’s daughter Elizabeth (Knightley, could be Natalie Portman's sister).  Sparrow joins Will Turner, Elizabeth’s suitor, to rescue her and the true adventure begins for them.

Sparrow gets captures, more times than I would like to count, and escapes probably more times than he is captured.  But through it all he delights and entertains the ones he's with as well as the ones watching him on the big screen.     

Although the movie’s ending runs on the predictability trail and a little long, there are some twists and turns, mainly by Sparrow, that keeps the audience intrigued. Paying attention to detail helps so you won't get lost in the end.

Depp’s character puts a smile to everyone’s face even when Sparrow is being sincere.  There is a playfulness in everything he does, even when he’s fighting his nemesis, Captain Barbossa.

With these two actors in the same scenes, they lighten up the film, that could have been otherwise down and dreary and ended up like the rest of the pirate movies before it.  But the superb performances bring spirit to the movie.

Orlando Bloom is a great pick for the young hero and is bound to be one of the great good guys.  Interesting to see how his next role as Paris will play out.

“Pirates of the Caribbean” is based on a theme park ride at Walt Disney World which could explain why the movie takes us on such a raucous ride.