REVIEW
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
by Jonny Benton & Marc Gottlieb
(July 10, 2003) Pirates
of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is
without a doubt one of the most entertaining movies
of
the year.
It's everything you’d ever
want from a pirate movie - and more: great swashbuckling action,
majestic marine vistas, and plenty of shivered timbers.
The story is that of a young blacksmith, played by Orlando
Bloom, and a pirate captain without a crew (Johnny Depp),
who team up to rescue the blacksmith's love (Keira Knightly),
from a cursed pirate ship, led by the evil Captain Barbossa,
played by Geoffrey Rush. As Captain Jack Sparrow, Depp steals
the show, delivering a convincing and simultaneously over-the-top
performance. His character is never trustworthy, always intoxicated,
and always thinking way outside of the box (an after-effect
of being marooned). Even though he's always out-gunned, Sparrow
manages to talk his way back to the top.
Not willing to rely solely on action to entertain his audience,
director Gore Verbinski throws in plenty of stunning visuals,
both thrilling and comedic. As they get a first view of the
main characters, and they take in the beautiful long-distance
shots of the Caribbean islands, the audience gets a hint
of how much excitement there is to come.
 Another
feather in the film's cap is the special effects. As you
might have seen in the preview
(click here for your own viewing) the
antagonists are undead, but they are revealed as skeletons
only in the
moonlight.
This makes for some incredible fight
scenes as the combatants jump in and out of the light, alternately
appearing as men and corpses.
In many recent movies, like
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and The
Matrix: Reloaded,
directors have leaned heavily on CGI (Computer
Generated Images), instead of creating monsters with
makeup or choreographing fight scenes for real
actors.
By
overuse
of CGI, the movies lose a level of realism that other
techniques can provide. Pirates
of the Caribbean reserves
CGI for those special effects no other tricks can produce,
allowing for a far more realistic
and exciting experience.
Overall, we recommend you gather up the family and head
for Pirates of the Caribbean, but maybe leave the younger
kids at home. Though this is a Disney movie, it isn't Bambi.
It's rated PG-13, and may not be for young or timid children.
The ghost-pirates and the violence would have spooked us
when we were six.
Like the ride, Pirates of the Caribbean is
intense, but the movie has much more to offer: a great cast
giving out
top-notch performances, plus realistic special effects,
beautiful scenery, and plenty of pirate ghosts.
Jonny Benton and Marc Gottlieb are 2003 graduates of Mamaroneck
High School and summer interns with the Larchmont
Gazette
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