I will say, though, that I was unhappy with the resolution give in the movie over William Turner, Davy Jones, and Elizabeth Swan (if I go into it any more than that, it’ll ruin the end of the movie). I’m not sure where they were going with the writing there, but I guess it sets up a fourth and possibly fifth movie. Of course as I recall reading somewhere on the internet, there will be no more Pirates movies. That’s a shame. Anyway, after some Googling and some Wikipedia searching, it turns out that there was a scene cut from the movie that would have explained the somewhat tragic ending a little bit better. As it turns out, things aren’t as bad as they seem when you’re leaving the theater as the curse will eventually be lifted. Also, the scene at the end of the movie after the credits (which I didn’t stay to see) reveals the future for Elizabeth and Will.

After reading this stuff and reading what was left out of the movie, it really should have been left in. I mean it’s vital to the storyline. But, you can take a look on Wikipedia yourself to find out what I mean.

Geoffrey Rush was fantastic in his role as Captain Hector Barbossa – he has perfected that role to the point where I can’t see anyone else ever filling his shoes. The same goes for Johnny Depp and his Captain Jack Sparrow character. Both roles were performed masterfully and it shows on the screen.

Orlando Bloom was much better in his role as William Turner, though I thought the writing for his character was “good” at best. Keira Knightley played Elizabeth very well and did a great job during one scene where she finds out her father’s fate. That was probably the most touching scene in the entire movie, though it was a shame to see her father leave the series in the way that we ultimately figure out it happened.

Given the end of the second movie where James Norrington (played by Jack Davenport) brought in the heart of Davy Jones, I expected more from his character in this movie. I also expected his final scene would be a little bit more than it turned out to be, but I guess it was the best way to get rid of the character without a big, extended storyline (sorry if that ruined his role in the movie for any of you).

All in all, the movie is well worth the money spent on it. Again, I suggest going to see it as soon as you can and be sure to see it in one of the big theaters with the good sound systems. And hey, let me know what you think after you see it!

Disney did a great job with this film. It looks great, the cinematography is awesome, the soundtrack was good, the story is fun and intriguing – great job all around. I do have two minor complaints, though (one movie-related and one not movie-related). First, our seats absolutely sucked. We were sitting in the two left-most seats in the fifth row back so our heads and backs were contorted the entire time as we tried to take in the entire screen from an odd angle. Why do they even make those seats? No one likes sitting in them – why not just make more seats in the upper rows?

Second, I thought that the ending – while brilliantly done – could have done more to tie up some loose ends with this particular movie. For those of you that don’t know, there will be another Pirates movie next summer that was filmed concurrently with this installation of the film. That’s cool with me and it’s a smart way to do a movie (just like they did with Lord of the Rings). But at least at the end of the first two Lord of the Rings movies, there was some conclusion, though something always loomed on the horizon. At the end of Pirates 2 there were minimal conclusions, no major “end” to any subplots or storylines, and at least one gigantic unanswered question (which you’ll have to watch the movie to find out).

A completely wrong, 100% jaded Entertainment Weekly Review did make one good point about the ending of the movie:

Without an artistic stake in eliciting joy (or sadness, or concern, or something other than a glazed giggle at Depp’s finery), there’s nothing to keep producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski, and their screenwriting galleymates from piling on another big false ending, and another, and another, “Caribbean” without end, until a pummeled audience begs for a toilet break and, for mercy’s sake, a real conclusion.

I don’t agree with some of that, but I certainly agree about the false ending and the need for a real conclusion.

Other than those two somewhat minor points, I thought that the movie was great. Depp does a great job at being his Richards-inspired pirate and Bloom plays the role of hero/good guy very well. Some suggestions for your movie viewing, though…

Don’t go see this movie when there are a bunch of little kids in the theater – they were all laughing at parts of the movie that were completely unfunny last night. For those of you who did see the movie, think of the very last scene and what happened – our theater had a bunch of kids laughing at the very last moment. Made no sense whatsoever. This also goes for generally “family-friendly” times at the theater because it appeared to us that a lot of older women were laughing at every word that Depp said, which was really distracting.

I suggest going to see the movie after having watched the first movie. I was going to do this, but between work and a tight schedule, it didn’t happen. There were a lot of references that you wouldn’t have been able to pick up unless you watched the first movie or at least had it in mind while watching Pirates 2. But these are all not that important (for example, the use of the term “poppet”).

This movie was, I think, one of the best that we’ve seen so far from the summer movie offerings. Superman Returns was a general bore and the Da Vinci Code was so-so. Pirates of the Caribbean is the movie to see this summer – I strongly recommend it and go ahead, spend the big money to see it in a good theater.

For those of us who have seen it, I would recommend this one for a cheap matinee replay. Good job Disney!