July 23, 2006
Overall, not as impressive as the original. Lacked much of the fun and energy.
I liked the inclusion of Bootstrap Bill and Davy Jones (though Jones was made up of far too much CGI for my liking). Depp as good as ever - and Knightley, Jack Davenport and Kevin McNally were much improved -- still, Bloom was as weak as ever. Nice bit from Naomi Harris, not that I understood much of what she said. We also have a forgettable new villain in Tom Hollander. Another shame was that less was seen of Jonathan Pryce, who was a good addition in the original.
I know these films are fictional, but some bits were just silly - such as most of the big swordfight. The film was overly long, and really suffered because of Barbossa's absence. He really was the highlight of the first film, alongside Depp of course. Let's hope the third is better.

