Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man's Chest

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Summary:
Captain Jack Sparrow and crew are back for another adventure, this time involving a chest (METAL chest) with a heart inside. The heart of Davy Jones. Jack Sparrow wants it as ransom for a debt owed to Davy Jones, while Will Turner and Elizabeth want it to keep themselves alive from the law. Lots of confusing plot developments - well, "sort of developed"-ments - arise; and Davy Jones looks really cool.

Review:
One thing that gets on my nearves a lot with sequels, especially the big budget extravaganza sequels, is how they try so hard to include everyone that had any relevence in the first movie the second time around. It almost always comes across as a sad attempt at bringing back whatever piece of the original brought magic to the audience, instead of just going with what they think would work best for the movie. This is one of those movies that falls into that category. The ex-Commodore coming back for his strange reasons out of the blue (why the hell was he in Totoga at the time? Oh yeah, to become part of the movie, that's why), as well as the fake-eye dude and his mate, and the mysterious inclusion of a couple OTHER characters who I will not mention here. It felt more forced to me than it should have been. Why oh why did they try to have these people in this movie, considering how frivolous they are in the overall big picture of things?

Captain Jack Sparrow steals the show again, next to the outstanding creature effects that were presented to us with Davy Jones and his crew. I'd say 90% of the time, the effects were spot-on, especially with Shark-head man and Davy Jones himself. There was a seamless transition from CGI to practical effects. Most of the time I couldn't tell if Mr. Jones was just pure makeup, or if he was enhanced with CGI, or altogether CGI completely. I love that! He looked fantastic, and Bill Nighy is rad no matter what he's in, so his acting chops were well respected by me. I'd say the worst effects were used for The Cracken, which is unfortunate considering its' importance for the story. I would still say that it looked a lot better than most shit that's CGI-d together these days. One thing's for sure; you might think twice about eating seafood right after this movie, BOO-YAHHH! It's great to see that every penney of the $225 million budget (daaang) shows up onscreen, unlike, say recent overbudgeted movies playing in a theater screen right next to Pirates 2.

Johnny Depp is a pirate through and through, thieving his commanding presence every second he's onscreen, taking away what little vitality there was from Kiera Knightley (who is underused in this one), and of course making Orlando Bloom look that much more gay and uninspiring. Outside of these three principle characters, no one else has much chance to rise above and beyond their call of duty. It's not their fault they didn't do all that great, I think it has more to do with the fact that not much effort was made to make them stand out too much above the three principle leads.
Another issue I had with Dead Man's Chest lied in the actual story. I loved the idea of what Sparrow's compass is capable of (pointing to that which you desire most), which adds to the already cool device the first time around. What I had to wonder was what Sparrow's conflicting desire was throughout the movie. Nice touch. A lot of things happened from beginning to end, and I'd say about 20% of the time I didn't quite catch what the fuck the POINT of certain moments were. Why did each person need the chest again? What did Sparrow not tell Swann about Turner again? Wait, what was that again about those guys held prisoner in the second cage on that island? Who were they again? Maybe it was just the shitty sound in the theater, and me thinking there was no NEED for following any kind of complicated plot, but I got lost a lot more than I thought I would trying to sort out what the witch-woman was saying, what that jar of dirt was for (well I figured out that purpose in retorspect), as well as numerous other small details. I will have to see it again in a theater that has much better sound than what I saw it in; it detracted from my enjoyment, especially during the action scenes.

If you're not in the mood to give a shit about the storyline (much like I was, but be warned about that lol), and searching mainly for some brainless swashbuckling pirate-venturing adventure, then this is the movie for you. It paces a little slowly near the first half, but once they end up on the island with all the cannibals, massive amounts of fun should ensue. I had a great time, and a lot of the slapstick humor worked for me (the fruit on a stick bit was pretty good), which is a big surprise considering I usually hate that kind of crap. I will say that the run around scene with the chest was a little too hokey for my tastes, with Elizabeth Swann once again being underused and playing the 'girl being left out' card a little too heavily. At the same time, I was lost as to the exact reason why those three were swordfighting each other. However, the spinning wheel bit was pretty sweet, especially the shots of them all in different directions holding tight as it wheels away to an unknown destination. Cool stuff! As a topper to it all, the final scene with The Cracken was a sight to behold, screaming phlegm-filled mouth and all! And that final shot in slow motion worked for me pretty damn well; let's get it on, shall we?! Yeeeha!
There are a number of references to the Disneyland ride for those who've ridden it (again), which is alright to watch, but a little tiring to me now. The first movie is cool to make nods to its' source, but by now they should do little to make references, seeing as NOW the Pirates movies should work on their own without mercilessly making nods to the theme park ride. Some of the small cracks to the first movie were great, though ("where's that dog with the key?" or "Keep her away from the rum").
All in all, I'd say that this is a worthy sequel to the original. It's a lot of fun to watch, even though I may have come across as more critical than my final grade implies. Bottom line; it entertained, barely slowed down the pace, and each notch upwards in the action scale was pretty much maintained up until the final few minutes... which is what an adventure movie SHOULD do! Underdeveloped characters and an overly-confusing plot are the main detractors for me, but like I said, the latter was probably me more than the movie.
You'll get what you're looking for, if it involves pirates, cannons, swordfights, a knife going down the ship's sail (I was thinking that would happen this time), a bit of the ol' supernatural, and just plain old movie FUN. I can't NOT suggest you check this one out!

GRADE: B-

Reviewed 07/09/06