Pirates of the Caribbean:
The Curse of the Black Pearl
You won't need a bottle of rum to enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, even if
you haven't experienced the Disneyland theme-park ride that inspired it. There's a galleon's worth of fun in watching Johnny
Depp's androgynous performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, a roguish pirate who could pass for the illegitimate spawn of rockers
Keith Richards and Chrissie Hynde. Depp gets all the good lines and steals the show, recruiting Orlando Bloom (a blacksmith
and expert swordsman) and Keira Knightley (a lovely governor's daughter). They set out on an adventurous quest to recapture
the notorious Black Pearl, a ghost ship commandeered by Jack's nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), a mutineer desperate
to reverse the curse that left him and his (literally) skeleton crew in a state of eternal, undead damnation. Director Gore
Verbinski (The Ring) repeats the redundant mayhem that marred his debut film Mouse Hunt, but with the writers of Shrek he's
made Pirates of the Caribbean into a special-effects thrill-ride that plays like a Halloween party on the open seas.
When the Governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann, is kidnapped by Captain Barbosa, her childhood friend and admirer, Will
Turner teams up with pirate Jack Sparrow to save her. However, Barbosa and the crew of his ship, the Black Pearl, are cursed.
Trapped in skeletal forms that reveal themselves in moonlight, they intend to use Elizabeth's blood to remove the curse and
return them to the land of the living.