Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you! :O
So don’t come running to me if you spoil the film!

Very unlike myself, I went to see a Disney film at the cinema; oh the actual terrible shock! I would have not chosen to go and see such a thing, except a group of friends were venturing out to do the very thing, so we tagged along and enjoyed the ride.

The cinema was absolutely packed, I love that whenever I go to the cinema simply with my sister there is always a very low attendance, but you add one other person to that group, suddenly the cinema always seems to be packed.

Directed by Gore Verbinski and Starring Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow), Orlando Bloom (Will Turner), Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann), Jack Davenport (Norrington), Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) Jonathan Pryce (Governor Swann), Lee Arenberg (Pintel), Mackenzie Crook (Ragetti), Kevin McNally (Gibbs), David Bailie (Cotton) and Stellan Skarsgard (Bootstrap Bill)

Well, the film –most obviously- takes place after the events of Pirates of the Caribbean (Whatever they may be, I for one have not seen the original) and follows the misadventures of Jack, Will and Elizabeth, with all pretty much similar screen time which was surprising to see. Ok, so the point of the film is that Captain Jack Sparrow made a very Faustian pact with Davy Jones, and now like all these deals, Jones wants his soul. But of course, he won’t let him have it, and this is when adventure ensues.

Well, being a Disney film, and based on a theme park ride, the film is very much intended for children, and granted there were some funny parts, the humour was all very obvious, nothing extremely clever, so yes. Very much a children’s film.

Well, in comment to the actors, the real selling point of the film is no doubt Johnny Depp, an actor who is now so recognised, hoards of young girls –and women- flock to his every film. Though it must be said that he creates such a character that can be remembered, it is almost impossible to say much else about the other actors.
It was a little strange to see so many British cameos, and I was rather estranged in seeing Mr Jonathan Pryce playing a role in the film, but regardless it must be said that hardly any of the other actors/actresses really compare to Depp’s performance, which I must say isn’t exactly his best one either.

The soundtrack was pretty cool, sounded similar to Monkey Island, and had me singing –Monkey Island- for a few days afterwards.

Good pirate films are few and far between, and one thing that I loved of Pirates of the Caribbean DMC was simply the pirate aspect. The film was full of beautiful costumes, fitting to the era, and the locations were gorgeous, (cant say that and not think of Little Britain) and as I do not see many period pieces, I must say that it was some of the best mise-en-scene for a film I have seen in a while.

For one, the film was quite long, and dragged a little, the other obvious downfall to the film was its extremely open-for-sequel-end which I abhor in films (unless its Batman Begins because they took that from the comics and it was awesome). Otherwise the film was ok, it’s not going up there on my ‘best films of 2006’ but it was ok. Like Fantastic Four last year, Pirates of the Caribbean was simply an enjoyable family film, not something I would usually chose to go see.

As I’ve already mentioned the film was entertaining, with a standard script and standard performances from the actors, not terribly engaging, but then, I did not expect such of the film.
Though if you have a hankering for light entertainment on a hot summers day, I can safely say that you will have some fun watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2; though I myself would chose to see Superman Returns if such the occasion arose.

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 6/10
I love to see people’s reactions to films, and children are particularly vocal in this aspect, so much that the child next to me, jumped enormously at some parts, laughed her head off on others, making the film much more enjoyable. Because I feel that if someone else is enjoying it, it makes the experience much more entertaining.
It would be very interesting –in my humble opinion- that instead with the third in the series, that they do not bring back Depp’s character, just to see everyone’s reaction, because there is no way they are going to keep their flagship out of it.