Just Watched: Pirates of the Caribbean: CotBP

So, last night we watched Curse of the Black Pearl with the kids. Their first time, but it's probably been about 10 years since I saw it last.

Still a great action, adventure flick! There seems to be just the right mix of humor, action, and drama to prevent the it feeling like a 2 and a half hour slog. Jack Sparrow is a great character here, and it was confirmed as my son (7) kept wanting him to be back on the screen. Rush also does a great job as Barbarossa.

I rank it with the first Mummy (fraser) film, which is also fantastic (might get heat for that). I imagine a telling of Robin Hood in similar style to these would hit it out of the park. Too bad the recent Robin Hood was so serious...

I still haven't seen any of the sequels as I understand Norrington turns into a buffoon, for some lame reason a love triangle is formed with Turner/Swan/Sparrow (which seems like a terrible idea) and Sparrow's antics are turned up to 11, so instead of being mixed in appropriately, I'd probably be exhausted and annoyed with the character.

So, now I have to prevent my son from dragging us all into the sequels...

Yes, this is a great movie, completely agree. And you'll get no shit from me on the original Mummy being a great action film.

Sequels are no good, but far worse than that, they are interminable.

If you like this and The Mummy, as do I, you should check out Mask of Zorro with Banderas. Has the same feel, imo, and the sword fights are good too.

Good call on Zorro. I forgot about that one.

So, I gotta ask...is Lone Ranger actually watchable?

Jeff White wrote: So, I gotta ask...is Lone Ranger actually watchable?

I thought it was awful.

No, Lone Ranger is absolute trash.

I really dislike both the Mummy series and the Pirates series. But it's true that the first Pirates movie is really enjoyable. Keira is cute as a button and Depp really delivers

I enjoyed the first three Pirates movies, but each one could have been improved with 30 minutes of footage taken out. Some of the fight scenes were tediously long, and there seemed to be about two plot twists too many.

I think the second one, Dead Man's Chest, is by far the best of the series. There's a certain confidence to the direction, the writing and story is sharper, and we're first introduced to the colorful characters of Davy Jones, the Haitian lady, and the Kraken (which is awesomely depicted). By the third film, there's nothing new, really, and it starts getting very tired. And there are two of the most entertaining action sequences of any film, I think; the first where they are stuck inside that cage between the cliffs, and the second the sword fight on the waterwheel. I agree with Shell, though, that they all could have been tightened for their benefit, including Dead Man's Chest.

I had really low expectations for the Lone Ranger and actually liked it okay, probably because of the low expectations. No desire to see it again, though, whereas I've seen Dead Man's Chest three times, and the first POTC twice. I also like the original Mummy and Mask of Zorro. Fun stuff.

I liked the first Pirates and Mummy movies. I'll still watch either when they're on. The second ones were _okay_. The third ones were...not good.

The first three Pirates pictures are fun, Dead Man's Chest is better than the first, but the first is really as close to a Raiders of the Lost Ark-class adventure picture than anything else in the last couple of decades. The third one is a mess, but it's got some great stuff in it. The fourth one plummets off a cliff in terms of quality.

I hated The Mummy for years...but I watched it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Compared to the kinds of heartless, dreary, negative action films that come out now, that one feels fun and refreshing. It's dopey and has some bad writing, but the adventure is appealing. I haven't seen the others, my wife did some promo work on the 4th one.

Mask of Zorro is really good...Dang, Catherine Zeta Jones in that one...

^exactly right about what makes the Mummy great.

What is honestly holding all the Pirates movies down from raiders of the lost ark status is length. All of these movies are 1/2-1 hour too long. Even the first one, which is the tightest of them.

Never saw the 4th, though.

I remember being entertained by the Banderas Zorro and the first Pirates movies but I can't help but compare them to the adventure films of yore.

Does the Banderas Zorro compare to 1940s Mark of Zorro? Does Pirates compare to 1950's Treasure Island? Can any Robin Hood even come close to 1938's Adventures of Robin Hood?

I think the answer is "no". There is a certain "boyishness" the older films not only embraced but reveled in. The hero is good, the bad guy is bad, and a kiss from the damsel was more than enough reward.

Today that attitude would be looked down upon. Things must be more grim. The morality must be gray. Every villain a victim. Every hero flawed. The sexuality amped way up where sex is no longer hinted at but shown.

Maybe I'm just a cranky old man. All I know is that you best keep offa my lawn!

The last 30 minutes or so of Lone Ranger is great, basically as soon as the theme song kicks in. If the whole film had that energy and tone it would have been fantastic.

We have the pirate's chest Pirates of the Caribbean box set because my wife loves the films. I've watched all of them at least a couple times. They're all pretty decent; Depp's performances are hard to not like. The 1st and 2nd are the best of the series though. The only significant part of the series I didn't like was Penelope Cruz's character. Her role did nothing for me and her subplot wasn't really interesting.