Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley

Director: Gore Verbinski

Running Time: 150 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Release Date: July 7th, 2006

The second installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean is loaded with some swell special effects but the story is a bit complicated and the film is a bit too long. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is wonderful and some of his scenes are pretty funny. One scene with a waterwheel that breaks loose is especially funny and it reminded me of something out of an Indiana Jones film.

In this second Pirates film (at least one more to come) we have Jack trying to find the Dead Man's Chest (a really nifty item to own which according to legend allows one to control Davy Jones). Of course Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) has the key to the chest and without the key the chest can't be opened. So first Jack must get onto Davy Jones Flying Dutchman ship (ah lest we forget the debt Jack owes Davy Jones - a lifetime (or deathtime) of serving on the Dutchman). You will certainly enjoy watching the Dutchman's crew who, having spent years under the sea, have taken on features of various sea creatures. All of your favorite seafood items are here -- yum, yum.

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) joined Jack on the quest but had to postpone their wedding, too bad.

The film has a lot of fights including one ala The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with a three way sword fight and several (perhaps too many) fights against the giant octopus whose sole purpose in life seems to be trying to sink ships.

While watching please note that Davy Jones acted while wearing a suit with reference marks that were used by Industrial Light and Magic to give us a pretty good looking octopus character.

I rated the film a "B" and would certainly recommend the film but get plenty of sleep the night before.

By the way, No animal was harmed in the making of this film -- just in case you were worried about all those sea creatures.

Len Berger
ConNotations Film Editor