Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

My second favorite film of the 5-film franchise. My VERY favorite was the first one. Again, I have a friend who loves this film, and I know a few people (out of the cast of thousands) who worked in this movie…so going to have them sign it, and give it as a Christmas present.

I am Shere Khan! Davy Jones, captain of the Flying Dutchman, sent me to write this review for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. One of the best Pirates of the Caribbean movies of all time, this film is in my book of definitions fits the term Classic. As a sequel to 2003's the Curse of the Black Pearl, this proves itself to be better than the original. More fun, more humor, more action, a super hardcore sea villain, a tribe full of hungry yet stupid cannibals, a disastrous sea monster, and of course what makes every Pirates film entertaining and awesome are Captain Jack Sparrow's (portrayed by the ever stunning actor Johnny Depp) mischievous and hilarious stunts and antics. The film's plot revolves around Jack Sparrow on a desperate quest to free himself from the grasp of Davy Jones, ruler of the ocean, by seeking out the Dead Man's Chest. At the same time, Will Turner, played by Orlando Bloom, and Elizabeth Swann, played by Keira Knightley, are arrested and facing the death penalty for helping Sparrow escape in the first film and seek their own means of freedom, eventually clashing with Jack and his problems and all goes chaotic for everybody. From the get go, the film begins at a much faster pace than the first one, obviously since by now we've been introduced to the characters and know where they come from. Like all sequels, that part has been taken care of and now we're moving on with what comes next after all ended well in Curse of the Black Pearl. The film opens with Will and Elizabeth's wedding being interrupted by the East India Trading Company, who's primary interest is seeking out of course Jack Sparrow, which leads to Sparrow's hilarious introduction escaping that coffin (how he got thrown in prison who knows) and rows back to his beloved Black Pearl, where he learns his debt to ocean ruler Davy Jones is due. Desperate he sails off to a mysterious island inhabited by a tribe of freaky looking but stupid hungry cannibals. That entire sequence I believe is probably one of the most popular moments in the entire franchise. All this goes back to how this film begins at a much faster action filled pace than the original. The effects for the film are incredible for it's time, a huge step up from the first film's, which didn't look bad at all that being said. Davy Jones as a villain is twisted and devilish by nature and his appearance is outstanding as well as the effects for his cursed sea creature crew members. Despite the fact that they are computer generated, the actors do an amazing job delivering a nightmarish performance. Not to mention the Kraken looks so real too. The effects for the sea and the settings look amazing beyond imagination. It makes it look as though they actually filmed the sea sequences out at open sea and it wasn't all blue screen, wouldn't that be amazing. The action is awesome as expected from the cannibal scene to the duel on Isla Cruces, to the scenes with the Kraken which are downright scary. The humor is awesome too, Jack Sparrow spilling out spices in his armpits in front of the cannibals is hysterical or him running from them on the beach lol! The Pirates of the Caribbean series is sadly a de-valued series that gets a lot of backlash and hate from others who say it's too silly, over the top, repetitive as the series progresses. While it may be true, it's still awesome. Why does everything have to be taken so seriously with America and film? This obviously wouldn't be a film worthy of the Oscars, although I would nominate it for a lot of things, but it is worthy to be called a legendary movie to a legendary franchise. This is the second best Pirates film right after the fourth one, which is my favorite out of all of them. The delivery was on time and ready for the whole family to view. One awesome thing about the blu-ray menu for this movie is it has a cool sequence with a living, breathing, talking skull that tells you what destiny lays ahead for you as you prepare to watch the film. This is the end of my review. Until next time, I will soon be reviewing the third Pirates film At World's End, so stay tooned me hearties!

I thought this movie was great: it was energetic, moved along at a fierce clip, and contrary to what others think, I thought the story was quite coherent. I can hardly wait for the third and (alas) last instalment. I was afraid that Depp would not be as endearing(?) as he was in the first, but he was even better. And that Gore Verbinski and the writers capitalised on the chemistry that Depp creates with everyone (in this case Knightley) is credit to them. The special effects were, every one of them, a part of the story and not just for show. And they were extremely well done for the most part. There was a part of the 'wheel sequence' where it was obvious the 'world' was moving and not the wheel (check and you'll see the people in the wheel never go upside down even though it keeps turning). But I forgive them that since the rest of the wheel bit was actually real (see Disc 2). Every bit of the $225m was money well spent. I give the movie 5 very enthusiastic stars! :-D The DVD extras were as usual well done. Disney's prices generally are way up there, but they never skimp on the extras and these were no exception. The commentary by the writers was just OK to me. They spent too much time second-guessing themselves and (in my opinion) not giving enough credit to the audience. It would have been wonderful to have the stars (OK - Johnny) do commentary. I really liked "Creating Jack Sparrow", but the extras were all pretty good. But what was with the Bloopers (on Disc 1) being brought to us by Verizon Wireless??? Even my slightly-jaded-as-to-the-commercial-aspect-of-everything-self was taken aback. Ah well. DVD Extras - 4.5 stars - the writers commentary and the 'commercial' - ewww - cost them half a star. See you all in the theatre come summer!

I hadn't seen this movie in years so thought I would revisit it on movie night. I forgot how entertaining and funny it was and really like the character development in the movie. As with many movies that have sequels, I think this original is the best.

A

You've got to hand it to Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. They are a winning team of writers with a pretty good resume of flicks that they've combined on. Amongst others, they did the first two Pirates movies and are together again for 2007's upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. And all of the key characters from Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) are back in Dead Man's Chest played by the same actors...with the same director (Gore Verbinski). That's usually the most important ingredient to a successful sequel. The main addition to Dead Man's Chest is Davy Jones played superbly by Bill Nighy (Nighy plays a great monster; I loved him as the vampire Viktor in the Underworld movie series). And all of the key players will be back for a quick return in 2007 with World's End. Can't wait. The effects in Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest are great. The movies are visually spectacular from CGI ghosts & sea monsters to at sea adventure to make up effects. There's lots of silliness in the Pirates movies, but it's deliberate. There's slapstick. There are death-defying feats. There's Johhny Depp (Captain Jack Sparrow) doing his best imitation of Keith Richards (true factoid, he has publicly commented that Richards is his Jack Sparrow character inspiration). But it all mostly works. After all, this is indeed supposed to be a movie for kids too, no? It's must be tough to make a PG movie these days; it's hard to believe that this Disney theme park ride turned billion dollar movie franchise is getting PG-13 treatment. Kids 13 and under can see more violence and hear more profanity at school recess and at the local playground than they do in Pirates. How is it that National Treasure (2004) gets PG and Pirates doesn't? Ludicrous. But I won't get started on how neurotically insane the pressure is from certain groups on the MPAA to "protect" our youth. I will indeed finish by saying that the first two of the Pirates series have grossed over $1,000,000,000 (that's a BILLION dollars) because they're good movies that kids can watch too. They're certainly not the best two movies in the world; in fact, Dead Man's Chest is probably more between a 3 and 4 star rating than the solid 4 star that Curse of the Black Pearl would earn alone. But numbers don't lie. People are drawn to this franchise. I am drawn to this franchise. As Davy Jones says, "One soul is not equal to another." So describes my view of the MPAA rating system to the next guy's, and so analogizes my opinion of Curse of the Black Pearl versus Dead Man's Chest. Bottom line: both movies offer a total of more than 4 hours of time that can be spent nuzzling up with your kids. Hence, my recommendation: add the Pirates series to your cart.

Great movie. A fun watch for the whole family.

This movie was awesome. Definitely recommend.