Seeking a Final Summer Thrill?
Let Pirates Take You For a Ride

Remember the last good pirate movie you saw? No? Not surprising really. A good swashbuckling pirate film hasn't been a mainstay of Hollywood in nearly a half a century. Back in the days of Errol Flynn, people flocked to the theaters to see him hoist his petard (really, I have no idea what that means) and fight pirates on the open seas. In the past two decades, there have been less than a half dozen pirate inspired films (most notoriously, the Geena Davis fiasco, Cutthroat Island).

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Johnny Depp plays the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow in the theme ride-inspired action/adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. (Disney, 2003)
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Written by: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert
Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, and Jonathan Pryce

Rated PG-13 (for action/adventure violence)
Running time: 143 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 8 out of 10.

Yet, in a summer bogged down with action sequels, Disney has decided to try something different and create a film with ties to one of its most famous amusement park rides. So, is the ride considered a film tie-in, or the other way around? Who cares?! Hang on, enjoy, and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times.

The new Disney blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl caters to the summer moviegoer by offering action, romance, evil monsters, swordfights, intrigue, and suspense. To suggest that this movie is just another pirate movie would be like saying that Star Wars was just another flying saucer movie. What director Gore Verbinski and company have done is recreate the genre to become something more than a two-dimensional stereotype. With a good, solid story and exciting, fun characters, the only curse here is that it ends too soon.

Keira Knightley portrays Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of a local magistrate who (as a young girl) befriends a boy named Will (Orlando Bloom) who is rescued from a shipwreck. The ship, story is told, was plundered by the Black Pearl, a phantom ship filled with phantom pirates. From young Will, Elizabeth takes a gold medallion, a piece of pirate treasure that she fears will mark him as a pirate.

Elizabeth and Will grow up friends, but held apart by the differences in their classes. While she is a magistrate's daughter, he is but a lowly swordsmith's apprentice. She is destined to be married to a captain in the Royal Navy, but a fainting spell sends her over the edge of a cliff into the water. She is rescued by a rogue named Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), a nefarious pirate, but not before the medallion she is wearing has sent out its magical signal through the sea to the infamous Black Pearl.

That very night, the crew of the Black Pearl come looking for their gold and the person to whom it belongs so they can break the curse they have lived under for ages. Naturally a chase ensues as Will enlists the aide of Jack Sparrow to steal a ship and rescue Elizabeth. The film quickly becomes one of adventure on the high seas, but it is filled with so many plot twists and turns that one is never really sure who is chasing who.

The film engages the audience on a number of levels, with action, comedy, romance, and some extraordinary special effects. The cast is excellent, from the witty rakishness of Depp's Jack Sparrow to the beautiful but resolute Elizabeth deftly portrayed by Knightley. Bloom is wonderful as the young swordsmith who denies his love for Elizabeth while trying so hard to earn her affection. Geoffery Rush, who plays the villainous pirate Captain Barbossa, is excellent in this often comical roll without every resorting to silliness or slapstick.

While the film is patently romantic at times, it never seems cliché. The worst thing that can be said for the film is that it has one of those Disney endings where everything works out as expected. Even if Disney decides to never make another Pirates movie (which is about as likely as the sun not coming up tomorrow), this will be a classic film that will be remembered for years.