Jenny-fa

Aiiiiieeeeeeeeee! Today, I went to see the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Dead Man’s Chest!

It was me, Uncle, Auntie, my cousin Julie, my brother Peter, and Grandma (who can only speak Chinese), in the last row of the jam-packed theater. We had hurriedly crammed ourselves into our minivan to arrive at the theater thirty minutes early, when all of the choicest seats were ripe for the picking. ^_^

What follows are my thoughts about the movie, so do not follow the jump link unless you can tolerate spoilers.

The Good

• Lots of swashbuckling, fast-paced action and adventure, as usual!
• The beautiful soundtrack.
• Impressive CGI animation and special effects!
• Many of the first movie’s original characters’ return appearances in this film, including the previously-undead-pirate duo (one of them who is constantly chasing after his eye), Gibbs, Governor Swann, and ex-Commodore Norrington.
• Some of the movie’s humorous moments (and especially Captain Jack Sparrow’s antics) had me in stitches!
• Johnny Depp!!! *screams while jumping up and down* Need I elaborate further?

However…

The Bad

• Long running time. It was a little too lengthy for my taste.
• The plotline was much too complicated and somewhat difficult to follow, and it was packed with too many references to chests, keys, letters, and a manner of obscure items.
• The viewing experience would have been much improved if English subtitles had been displayed. I don’t know about you, but those pirate British/Caribbean accents (especially the accent of one “voodoo princess” living in the middle of a swamp) were difficult to decipher.
• I really did not like the movie’s villain, the octopus-like captain of the Flying Dutchman, Davy Jones. Nor his crew members, who were equally gruesome.
• Former Commodore Norrington’s reappearance as a drunken bum down on his luck really saddened me. I liked his character from the first movie, and I felt he deserved better.
• The unexpected resurrection of a character from the first movie (which I will not reveal at the moment), and the cliffhanger ending (and I was wondering why they were already preparing for the third movie!). But most devastating of all, Captain Jack is swallowed by the Kraken! T_T

There was also the strange romantic chemistry building up between Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow, which, on one hand, I thought was an exciting development, but on the other hand, I thought was unlikely to culminate in anything, as Will and Elizabeth are already betrothed. But… I did like their kissing scene. Waha.

Overall, I enjoyed Curse of the Black Pearl more than this installment. Not only was it paced better with a much more intelligible plot, it was also more entertaining with a better, more charismatic villain, and much of the fighting occuring between actual human beings, instead of unsightly sea creature mutants.

Ah, well, *wipes tears from eyes* surely Will, Elizabeth, and Co. will find some way to bring Jack back…