Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Directed by Gore Verbinski

More of the same not a bad thing for successful “Pirates” follow-up

I expected the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie to be nothing more than a commercial vehicle for Walt Disney Studios, sitting perfectly alongside their other sub-par animated films and countless spin-offs produced in recent years, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find the film an engaging, well-crafted adventure. After an enormously successful run at the box-office, critical raves and even an Academy Award nomination for lead actor Johnny Depp, it was not so much of a surprise when I first heard the news that a sequel was in the works. And given that this is Disney we are talking about, it seems fitting that not one, but two new films were ordered up and put into production.

And so now we have “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”, which has the dubious distinction of being the “second part of a planned trilogy” -- or in other words: “filler” material. History tells us that such films are not received very favorably: Back to the Future II, The Matrix Reloaded and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones have left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans. But, occasionally, part 2 lives up to expectations (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), or it might even be regarded as the pinnacle of a trilogy (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back). And while Dead Man’s Chest does not approach these lofty heights, or even the height established by the first installment, I did find this movie to be very enjoyable and a worthy follow-up that has me excited about the third movie.

Dead Man’s Chest picks up where the first film ended, and while the novelty of the whole “swashbuckling adventure” theme has worn a bit, Johnny Depp, in his brilliantly tipsy Captain Jack Sparrow form, manages to keep the entire ship afloat -- no pun intended. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, reprising their roles as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, aren’t as memorable as the first time around, but they still look very pretty on the screen, which should be enough to delight the teenage crowd.

This is definitely a busy movie, with wall-to-wall action, but this isn’t always a good thing as the film does suffer from a “more of the same” feel. And despite all the activity, the movie does have a few dull moments, making the overall length feel bloated. Yet, by the end, the story does begin to come full circle… and with the spectacular climax, you can definitely sense that we are heading towards one awesome conclusion with the third and final installment of the series.

One aspect worthy of mention is the creature design. While the first movie made use of some terrific computer graphics effects in making the undead skeleton crew of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest introduces us to a new antagonist in Captain Davy Jones and his crew of sea-creature-inspired characters, mateys based on sawfish, hammerhead sharks, blowfish and squids. As impressive as the effects in the first movie were, I found myself really blown-away by the visuals in the sequel. If action and eye-candy (both the real and CGI varieties) are essential ingredients of your favorite popcorn movies, look no further. Some may view this entire film as filler, but Dead Man’s Chest got me more excited about this franchise than I had been. I’m definitely going to see the third movie now, so in a commercial sense, this movie was definitely a success. Of all the movies I saw this summer and that I reviewed here, Pirates of the Caribbean comes away the clear winner.

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