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It didn't bode well. A movie based on a Disney theme park ride about pirates, a genre that hadn't had a hit since the days of Errol Flynn. What's more, it was being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who had recently had a hand in overblown rubbish like Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. It may well have been just another pirate movie (albeit a very pretty and expensive one) had it not been for the genius casting of a certain Mr. Johnny Depp.
The surprises start straight off the bat, with a spooky, low-key opening, preceded by no corporate logos at all (Disney's brand image was so weak at the time that they thought attaching the Disney name to it could do more harm than good). The fun of the film really begins when we get our first glimpse of Jack Sparrow, accompanied by his extremely hummable theme music. His entrance is comedic perfection.
'Captain' Jack epitomises the loveable rogue character that is always the most popular one - just see Han Solo in Star Wars. However, Star Wars' success didn't completely ride of the reliable shoulders of Harrison Ford, as good as he was. In the case of Pirates, though, Depp completely carries the whole film, and it's nearly entirely due to the actor's interpretation of the role. The Jack character on the page was just a fairly typical 'seasoned pirate with questionable morals' (although admittedly one with some well-written dialogue), but Depp's Keith Richards-influenced performance elevates him to the pantheon of classic movie characters. It's hardly surprising that studio execs were somewhat concerned about his eccentric portrayal, given its degree of deviation from the norm.
The other casting works too. Orlando Bloom, as bland as he is, suits the Will Turner character well and shares great chemistry with Keira Knightley in her major breakthrough role. Geoffrey Rush has fun chewing the scenery as the villainous Captain Barbossa, and the actors in various smaller parts all have their moments, especially Mackenzie Crook and Lee Arenberg as two of Barbossa's rather inept henchmen.
The word 'fun' has showed up a few times in this review, and that's because it's the perfect word to describe the film. It's so effortlessly entertaining that it's easy to overlook the minor faults, such as the fact that it's a bit long and feels like it has one climactic action scene too many. The fact is that it's one of the most enjoyable crowdpleasers of recent years. With this first instalment's freshness on its side, the sequels couldn't hope to match up.
The extras
The first disc is very well endowed with commentaries, as it has two full length ones and two selected scene ones. The first full commentary is from director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp himself, and it's quite an entertaining one albeit at times focusing a little too much on just complimenting everyone involved. The second involves the four writers and they're actually really enjoyable to listen to, divulging a considerable amount of information. The two selected scene commentaries involve Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport (together) and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Disc 2 has a quite a lot of content to get through but most of it is fairly short. The main featurette is "An Epic at Sea", split into several sections totalling about 38 minutes. It covers quite a lot and is interesting but due to the fairly short length isn't particularly in-depth. "Fly on the Set" is what it sounds like - someone walking around the sets with a camera while scenes are being shot. The five segments add up to 20 minutes. There are three diaries, one a photo diary by Bruckheimer (he's clearly a talented photographer), one a video diary by actor Lee Arenberg showing life on the set, and one a chronicle of one of the real voyage from California to the Caribbean of the ship that stands in for The Interceptor on screen. There's a whole bunch of deleted scenes, 19 in all, and many of them are worth watching for curiosity's sake. "Pirates in the Parks" is an old featurette detailing the construction of the original Disney theme park ride on which the film is based. Of the remaining features (there are more!), a blooper reel provides momentary amusement, an interactive feature provides some info about real pirates, a short feature that shows the progression of the visual effects from start to finish in one scene, and a load of production photos cap it off. There are also some DVD-ROM features like script to screen comparisons, if that floats your boat.
Note that there's also a 3-disc so-called "Lost Disc" edition available. The first two discs are the same.
The summary
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the sort of rollicking swashbuckler that used to be churned out regularly in studio era but now is an unfortunately rare event. Slightly bloated it may be, but it's also an enormously entertaining spectacle that unsurprisingly captured the public's imagination.
