Pirates of the Caribbean is a huge movie. However, quite a disappointment. Pirates starts off right. The first appearance of Jack sparrow is quite funny and effective. Johnny Depp is wonderful as Sparrow. His performance is top notch as the dubious and ragged pirate. The story is unconvincing. I truly never understood the curse at all.

Pirates does have some excellent sword combat. We see one between Sparrow and Turner(Orlando bloom)does quite well. The dialog here is mostly lame. It would have been better with good dialog or if these two just fought without saying a word. Some later combat is just lame. Your opponent is a undead monster that can't be stopped by your sword. If the two were living, then the combat would be much more satisfying. The sword combat does suffer from being repetitive as well.

Johnny Depp aside, the acting here is okay. Nothing breathtaking. Keira Knightly is great eye candy, but seems like wasted talent here. Orlando Bloom is not bad, just over-acts his role. Keep it simple kid. There are many others but the only other one worth mentioning is Geoffory Rush. He has one line in this movie that is just juicy. Every time I hear it, it just rules.

The Special FX are amazing. Convoluted story aside, the skeletal pirates are dazzling to just look at. Never has the undead looked this good. Most of the comedy does not work well here. There are exceptions to that though. Example, Jack Sparrow, no matter the situation always gets annoyed when he is not referred to as "Captian". Another is The Black Pearl is getting damaged during a sea battle and during all the danger, Jack shouts out: "Stop putting holes in my ship!". Depp is good like I say.

Pirates also suffers from overstaying it's welcome. It's just too long of a movie. Also, one sequence of scenes that should have been immediately sent to the cutting room floor are the scenes with the Govener dealing with a severed hand. Useless and plain annoying. I did not much care for the pirate with the fake eye either.

The Last Word: Pirates, not a terrible movie is not engaging enough either. There are some high marks and lows. To many characters and a difficult story. Depp is the best. Jack Sparrow is very likable. Pirates just could have been a much better movie. **1/2/*****