However, where I say it wasn't a disappointment, thats not to say it was perfect. It fell into a similar trap that Spider-Man 3 did (which only heightened my worries) in that there were too many incredibly interesting characters to let the focus stay on one for too long. You've got Capt. Jack, Barbosa, Davy Jones, Turner, Elizabeth, Chow Yun Fat, the monkey, the East Indian Trade guy, the pirate with the wooden eyeball, Keith Richards, etc. etc. In my opinion, the way they divied up the screen time was actually done really well. With one exception. Not enough Davy Jones. I love Davy Jones. Hes my favorite character. Hes a really full, developed character with lots of quirks and whatnot that don't really get played out all that much in this third installment (though, they did get a HUGE chance to shine in #2, so Ill forgive the pirate people on this one).
That being said, Capt. Jack gets even quirkier. There was some division on opinions of Capt. Jacks intro in this one. It had to top the previous 2 movies. I think it did top them. Others don't. Its still a sight gag, but a very different one than having a tiny boat or shooting a crow. His quirks then grow and grow throughout the movie. Despite the fact that he MIGHT have less screen time than any other movie in the series, he makes each of his scenes bigger, so it balances out.
The action sequences and special effects were, as always with this series, quite good and quite fun. The difference with a lot of the fight scenes is that they take place on boats. They hardly ever leave the different boats throughout the movie. And theres lots of boats. Id say it might even make it the most piratey of the Pirate movies. Though, there wasn't a whole lot of plundering or pilfering. Assload of sailing though. It was mentioned that there was about as much sailing as "the Master and Commander movie... only interesting." I can agree to that. The CGI and whatnot was great, as per usual too. Animated characters didn't look terribly out of place (which I often hate), and real people in high-flying stunts that were obviously CGI looked great too. Some excellent CGI. Way better than "Finding Nemo". You could tell those fish weren't real.
In terms of story, its a good ending. Most stories get wrapped up fairly nicely (the ones that CAN get wrapped up, that is). One problem with the story is that it is clearly the second part to "Dead Mans Chest. " Not a terrible thing - "Dead Mans Chest" was awesome, and anyone who saw this one likely saw that one. It just means that this movie can't really stand on its own. It might be able to, but it referred to stuff that happened in #2 pretty briefly. So, if you haven't seen Pirates #2, I highly suggest you do before going to see this one.
To sum up: good final chapter, really fun sequences, awesome characters (lacking some focus,
but you don't really notice til after you're on the way home). Fun fun fun. Go fun!
3.8 / 5