Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest

Reviewed by Aricson Tarasova
July 8, 2006

Director: Gore Verbinski Studio: Walt Disney Pictures & Jerry Bruckheimer Films Website: Click Here MPAA: Rated PG-13 Review Rating: 8 out of 10

The cast and crew from Curse of the Black Pearl are back and in command of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest . Captain Jack has the crew of the Black Pearl in search of a key that will unlock the chest of Davy Jones. Inside the chest lies something of great power, a power that interests a shipping company which captures Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann on their wedding day. The company forces Will to find Captain Jack and return with his compass that will reveal both the location of the key and its chest. If Will fails in his quest, his beloved Elizabeth will face the gallows. Once again Captain Jack tries to outwit the good, the bad and the ugly by doing what he does best: being a scoundrel.

Dead Man's Chest is not a good movie; it is not a bad movie: it is a fun movie! As in the original, this film does not try to be something that it is not. The Pirates of the Caribbean films do not have complex characters that do act in formulas that are molded by Hollywood cookie cutter plots. They are not even remotely historically accurate. They are what they are: a fun ride and I cannot think of any greater compliment to a movie that is based on a theme park ride than to say it is fun.

Johnny Depp returns as Capt. Jack in Dead Man's Chest.

What the Pirates of the Caribbean films accomplish thus far is to capture the essence of the old studio magic of the 30's and 40's of which Disney films in the 60's did with great success. Dead Man's Chest exemplifies the imagination of a romanticized and stylized world past that Disney had embodied in such classics as Mary Poppins and Pollyanna . Instead of authenticity, these Disney films used the old studio formulas of easily identifiable caricatures played by character actors and romantic fantasy tied within a true-and-tested plot that would please audiences. And, for the most part, they did. Are they deep pieces of art that reflect the complexity of the human soul? Heck no! But they are fun to watch.

Specifically, Dead Man's Chest captures the spirit of the first film, Curse of the Black Pearl and adds onto its mythology giving the film a larger imaginative scope. I appreciated that the filmmakers treated Curse of the Black Pearl , not as a ‘Part 1' in the trilogy, but rather used it as a prologue to tell a bigger two-part story, albeit not a better story. Dead Man's Curse has as good or bad a story as Curse of the Black Pearl , but both are fun stories.

What makes Dead Man's Chest a fun movie is the action, not the plot. Director Gore Verbinski shows that no matter how stupid, inconceivable and downright stale your plot is, you can make a piece of cinema magical with an incredibly playful attitude toward fantasy adventure and the world in which the characters adventure in. Johnny Depp shines as Captain Jack Sparrow and brings the character into a command role that does not break from what Captain Jack was from Curse of the Black Pearl . Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley flawlessly return as our ready-made heroes who must undergo some serious swashbuckling on the high seas to save their love. Most of all, fans will enjoy actors reprising their roles from Curse of the Black Pearl , right down to the two Tortuga slaphappy wenches Scarlet and Giselle.

The real fun of Dead Man's Chest is that the film connected me to the experience of the Magic Kingdom itself. Pirates of the Caribbean was the first ride I rode at Disneyland when I was eight years old. I have clear memories of how magical and excited I was riding down the waterfalls and seeing the artificial world represented around me. There were times in Dead Man's Chest where I felt like I was eight years old again and riding the Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time. That experience of nostalgia did not happen to me during Curse of the Black Pearl . So for me moments in Dead Man's Chest surpassed my enjoyment over Curse of the Black Pearl . However, Dead Man's Chest does have a few elements that Curse of the Black Pearl had succeeded better.

Curse of the Black Pearl has a better-economized story and a more efficient plot than Dead Man's Chest . Dead Man's Chest is a longer movie and I could feel the length stretching my patience at times. Also, Dead Man's Chest is much more violent than its predecessor. Twenty years ago, this movie would have easily been given an R rating. By adding on the violence, the film bleeds some of its romantic allure away and cheapens the fun of the story. After all, this is a Disney film, and we come to expect that the Disney ‘world' has a limited capacity of violence.

I am happy to give Dead Man's Chest a High Evolution Factor. I made a note in my review of the word fun in describing this film. Critics have bashed Dead Man's Chest for being in essence a Disney formula movie. I agree, but it's a dang fun formula. What Verbinski, Depp, Knightley, Bloom and all the other filmmakers of Dead Man's Chest have done is produce a sequel that is infused with excitement and heart. Most sequels have a half-assed feeling to them and when a sequel comes out like Dead Man's Chest that is as fun as the original, I appreciate it a little more than a one-hit wonder film. If you do not like old Disney films and/or do not have any warm childhood memories of the Magic Kingdom, you might only see the strings that the artificial world in Pirates of the Caribbean is held up on. But if you like fantastic fun soaked in nostalgia, Dead Man's Chest has FUN carved all over it.