Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Movie Review

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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Written by: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert (screen story), Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (screenplay)
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Jonathan Pryce, Zoe Saldana
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter Elizabeth, from Jack's former pirate allies who are now undead.

Verdict
Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow carries this movie. He's a clever, selfish weasel and his haphazard adventures provide a lot of fun. The tone of this movie sets it apart. Combining humor with the central issue being a curse that turns pirates into skeletal zombies instead of a traditional pirate movie plot makes this an engrossing adventure. It certainly helps that the writing does a great job of establishing all the characters. While Sparrow is the flash, the writing is the foundation.
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Review
Few would have predicted the success of this pirate adventure, but a fantasy style curse, comedy, and by and large the acting of Johnny Depp catapulted this into a five movie franchise with a sixth in development. Depp does a tremendous job, he's stated his inspiration for Captain Jack was The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards and Looney Tunes cartoon character Pepé Le Pew. This movie proved he could be a leading actor.

Johnny Depp plays Captain Jack Sparrow.

Jack is the opposite of how pirates are often portrayed. Instead of menacing and ruthless. He's first seen comically sailing into the docks on the mast of his ship that is inches from sinking. He's selfish certainly, but that only adds to the character as he cleverly finds a way to bend the situation to his own ends. He never fails to interject that he is indeed a captain. Part of what led him to losing his ship was being fair to his crew. His tendency to help, as long as it doesn't get in the way of his ambitions, is what concludes the plot of this movie's characters.

Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom play Elizabeth and Will

The curse that renders Barbosa's (Geoffrey Rush) crew as undead adds a great element to the story. Instead of built on gold, as pirate movies often are, this is focused on the curse that accompanies the gold. It's a great spin.
Will (Orlando Bloom) is chasing Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) while Jack is planning to use Will as leverage. Throughout the movie Jack just wants his ship back. Everyone meets at the treasure cave for a showdown that extends into a boat chase and battle. That makes this a bit long as there is yet another showdown in the same cave.

It's a fun movie that was predicted to flop because pirates movies never seem to do well. It turns out recycling the same story is the issue. Will, Elizabeth, and Jack are well developed characters, though obviously Jack steals the show. Yet, without the solid writing as a base, Jack wouldn't be such a great character. While Depp's choices are integral, it's Jack's personality derived from the script that is just as important as the portrayal.