A Pirates of the Caribbean Review

I know many of you could've predicted that we'd see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" the opening weekend. We saw it at a Friday matinee since the kids were out of school for Memorial Day weekend, although we would've loved to see it last night at a Thursday night screening, we just didn't want to pay for a babysitter. We regretted bringing our littlest one -- Logan started getting bored about half way through the movie so I ended up missed little chunks here and there seeing as I had the pleasure of sitting next to him. There was a lot more story lines to keep up with in this swashbuckling sequel than the other two, so sometimes I felt a little lost because of my fidgety friend, but Joshua caught me up during the slow periods. All I can say is it was a very entertaining movie and we loved it!! (Although maybe a little too violent for the kids.) If you see it, make sure and stay through the credits. There is an important scene at the very end. Almost our entire movie audience cleared out of the theater during the credits except for a few groups of people who were probably waiting like us to see if it had a funny bit at the end like the other two movies did. We were glad we stayed.

A Quick Summary and Review -- by Julie Dyal
Director Gore Verbinski jumps into this sequel feet first. Like rapid fire, he sets up one new story element after another -- Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann must visit the Pirate Lords and their council; the Black Pearl has to reach the underworld; there’s a new mythological explanation for successful piracy which factors into the real method behind Barbossa's return. Individually, I think each story line is extremely entertaining and enjoyable, I just think that maybe there was one too many stories going at once, each running into the other on screen. Most of these new plot lines lead the story in many distinctly different directions, which is a lot for one little movie to try and do especially when there are associations and betrayals left over from the last movie. So, in fact, this is not a little movie after all - It's actually almost 170 minutes but it feels very jam-packed.

As much as I love Johnny Depp’s performance as Jack Sparrow, it's interesting to realize that Kiera Knightley’s character is actually the primary character in this movie. I think she almost took charge of the film, figuratively and literally. She was forceful and persuasive and even flawed at times -- almost an ideal heroine.

I encourage you to go see it. It's not exactly the movie I expected to see but the entertainment is definitely worth the price of admission. There is a lot to keep up with in this film so make sure and really pay attention when watching it. The non-stop pirate action that "Pirates of the Caribbean" brings to the screen is always exciting and fun to see, but I was also pleased to see it still had the all-important slapstick humor and romance that I'm very fond of in these films. In my opinion, the most lively scenes come not from the sword but from the dialogue which makes this trilogy so enjoyable to watch. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.