DVD Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Let me be blunt. Until the very moment that I placed this DVD into the player and actualy began to watch it, I would never have believed that a film based upon a ride at Disneyland and produced by the same guy who gave us atrocities such as Pearl Harbor could be anything but dreadfully awful. It is always a pleasant surprise to have my preconceptions of a film proved wrong.

Before continuing, let me just say that from this point forward in this review, I will be calling the film just "Pirates." This is because the film's title has more characters in it than the alphabet by almost double.

The story, as one might expect from the novel-length title, is about pirates and curses. There's also treasure, to be sure. In a clever twist, the pirates aren't trying to steal the treasure, but return it. The pirates, you see, already stole the treasure once and as a result have been cursed. They are now undead and for all practical purposes, unkillable. Now, this might seem to be advantageous for a pirate, but the catch is that they are no longer capable of expediencing anything of life. Smells, taste, feelings, all of these things are now lost to them and the only way to literally get their lives back is to return their treasure.

The last piece of treasure that the pirates need is in the posession of Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley), who oddly enough stole the gold piece herself from the shipwrecked son of one of the pirates. The pirates sail their ship, the Black Pearl, into port and raid Swan's house. They kidnap her, mistaking her for the daughter of the pirate who originally stole the coin. Back aboard the Black Pearl, the captain of the pirates, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) explains that not only must the treasure be return to the chest from which it was taken, but the thief must also sacrifice their blood. Only then will the curse be lifted.

Meanwhile, the boy, Will Turner, who is the real pirate son, carries a torch for young miss Swan and sees her kidnapping as a means to prove himself by rescuing her. Turner enlists the help of notorious pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and sets out after the pirates. Sparrow has agreed to help only because he is the former captain of the Black Pearl and he wants his ship back.

Are you following all of this?

To sum it all up, the pirates must return their treasure, the girl must be rescued and the "good" pirate must get his ship back. That part is simple enough, but what makes this film so interesting is that every character is given their own motivations and they don't feel like simple plot mechanics to advance the story. For instance, a lesser film might have turned the Jack Sparrow into a hero. Certainly he does things in the film that might be considered selfless, or even heroic, but it's all in pursuit of getting his ship back. There is a real sense that if the ship were removed from the equation, Sparrow would would be gone with the next stiff head wind.

The film also does a decent job of giving the female character something to do. Too many films suffer from the damsel in distress syndrome and only allow the woman to be smart enough to get herself into trouble. Here, however, Swan is an integral part of the action. During one key sea battle, it is she who takes charge in the attack against the pirates.

I would probably be remiss in my duties as a reviewer if I didn't say something about Johnny Depp's performance. Much has already been written, by reveiwers with far greater stature than I, but it bears repeating that he creates something magical in this film. The character of Jack Sparrow is certainly one of the most unique film creations I've ever seen. What makes this character work so well is that the rest of us may see him as strange and eccentric, but his behaviour is perfectly reasonable to himself. A wink or a nod would have ruined it. Instead, Depp dives in and plays the part as if the film were called The Adventures of Jack Sparrow, which is probably exactly the level of self importance that the character would appreciate.

If there are any flaws at all, it's that the film is just too long for its own good. Characters are captured and rescued, captured and rescued so many times that it almost becomes farce. We're also given several endings when one would do. Trim 20 to 30 minutes off of this film and we'd be talking about something really great.

However, even if it does stick around a little too long, Pirates is still great fun and several times better than I ever would have guessed. They even managed to work in elements from the ride without being overly blatant or cheesy.

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