Argh, me mateys! It’s time for another retrospective on a
classic franchise that sees new life this year with an upcoming installment.
And today’s franchise is a classic of this current era of franchises; one about
the swashbuckling scallywags and their adventures on the high seas! “Yo-ho,
Yo-ho, a Pirate’s Life for Me!” Heh, okay, I won’t be talking like a pirate
throughout this entire post. But today, we are talking about the Pirates of the Caribbean films, one of the
biggest film franchises in recent years… and an unexpected one at that.
Because, really, the idea of turning a theme park ride into a film may seem
like a crazy one depending on who you ask. That was clearly the case in 2003,
when Disney decided to do a live-action adaptation of Pirates of the Caribbean, inspired by the company’s iconic theme
park ride of the same name. The original Pirates
of the Caribbean ride first opened in March 1967 at Disneyland in
California and was the last attraction that Walt Disney himself primarily supervised
before his death in December 1966. Obviously, it was a big hit with guests and
the ride has since been established at multiple Disney parks around the world,
arguably becoming Disney’s most iconic ‘dark ride’. Still, it seemed like a
stretch when the first Pirates film
was released in the summer of 2003 given the arguably absurd nature of what it
was; a ‘theme-park ride’ based film. However, to the surprise of many, it was a
smash hit with both critics and audiences, resulting in a few more sequels that
were released over the next few years. And while the sequels did not fare as
well in terms of critical and audience reception, they still proved to be
monster hits for Disney at the box-office, even when considering that some of
them ended up being some of the most expensive films ever made.
And this year, the series returns to the big screen for the
first time since 2011 with Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Supposedly, it’s the final installment
of the franchise, if based only on the tagline ‘The Final Adventure’ seen in
the film’s primary trailer. However, recent comments from co-director Joachim Rønning suggest that isn’t
the case. After all, I’m sure that we all thought that At World’s End was the final film… and then On Stranger Tides seemed like the last one. And yet, here we are
now with the fifth installment; who knows where it’ll go from here? Whatever
happens, though, I am looking forward to this new installment of the franchise.
I’ll admit that I generally like each of the four previous films. Granted, the
sequels do have their flaws, but they also have great moments in them that
ultimately make them worthwhile in the end. I may not have seen any of the
original 3 films in theaters (I almost did see the first film back in 2003 during
a double feature at the Rustic Drive-In along with Finding Nemo, but my family decided to leave a few minutes in
because some of us were getting tired) but I do still fondly remember all the
hype surrounding their releases. For one thing, I remember going on a Disney
cruise right around the time when Dead
Men’s Chest came out in 2006. Not only did they have the film playing in
the ship’s theater (again, though, I didn’t see it then), but they also had the
actual Flying Dutchman ship used in
the film anchored at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. Sure, the hype for
this franchise isn’t what it used to be but it does go to show how big the
original trilogy really was. And so, in honor of the new film’s release, it’s
time to embark on the seven seas alongside the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow as
we look at the previous four installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Savvy?
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003)
We start things off, of course, with the original Pirates film, The Curse of the Black Pearl, released in 2003. As noted in the
intro, there was some uncertainty surrounding this film given its status as a
film that was based off one of Disney’s most iconic attractions. To put this
entire situation into perspective, this was released one year after the
infamous adaptation of The Country Bears,
which was both a critical and commercial disaster. 2003 also saw the release of
another poorly-received ‘Disney theme park’ adaptation, The Haunted Mansion. But, to the surprise of many, Pirates of the Caribbean (which,
technically, was released before Haunted
Mansion) proved to be one of the
biggest critical and commercial hits of the summer and rightfully so as it’s a
highly entertaining pirate adventure. Sure, perhaps it’s a tad bit overlong,
with a runtime of over two and a half hours. And sure, maybe some of the CG
effects, namely whenever the villainous pirates reveal their skeletal forms,
have become rather dated compared to the effects of its sequels. Still, through
it all, there’s never a dull moment in this film and, as would become common
with each film in the series, the film has excellent action set-pieces,
especially the sword-fighting sequences. Johnny Depp debuted one of the most
famous protagonists in recent years in this film as the rogue and eccentric
pirate, Jack Sparrow, and does a fantastic job in the role, so much so that he
even earned an Oscar nomination for it. The rest of the cast is solid too;
Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are both excellent as the series’ main
romantic leads, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, and Geoffrey Rush is enjoyably
over-the-top as main villain Hector Barbossa. Thus, The Curse of the Black Pearl still holds up as a fun and
adventurous film that truly surprised us all upon release.
Rating: 5/5!
“You are without a
doubt the worst pirate that I’ve ever seen!” – Commodore Norrington
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST (2006)
The main thing to note about this franchise is that only the
first Pirates film was a commercial
AND critical success. While each of the sequels were successful commercially,
they didn’t fare as well with critics compared to the original. That all
started with 2006’s Dead Man Chest,
once again directed by Gore Verbinski and produced back-to-back with the third
film. And, to be perfectly blunt… this film gets too much of a bad rep. Sure,
there are some flaws here and there. You could say that this is where one of
the main issues that critics have had with the series starts to emerge; that
the plots begin to get overly complicated with too many characters to follow.
Plus, there are quite a few ridiculous moments throughout the film, like during
the finale when ‘literally’ everyone begins to fight each other over control of
the titular ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, which contains the heart of main villain Davy
Jones (Bill Nighy) that can be used to control him. But, again, never a dull
moment thanks to excellently choreographed action sequences, including an epic
finale in which the crew of the Black
Pearl battles Davy Jones’ ‘terrible beastie’, the Kraken. The cast is still
great as before; the returning cast members slip back into their respective
roles with ease and there are some memorable new characters as well, including
Stellan Skarsgård
as Will’s long-lost father ‘Bootstrap’ Bill and, as mentioned earlier, Bill
Nighy as the series’ absolute best villain, the creepy tentacled pirate that is
Davy Jones. Heck, the film also deserves some credit for not entirely ending on
a ‘happy’ note a la Empire Strikes Back,
while also culminating with an awesome cameo that further sets up the sequel.
So, in short, no I don’t think that this is better than the first film. Still,
I’d argue that it ain’t too far off. Thus, it’s easy to see why this became the
first film in the series, and the third film EVER, to gross over a billion at
the worldwide box-office. Clearly, it was one of the biggest films of its time.
Rating: 4.5/5
“What about Jack? I’m
not leaving without him!” (*sees Jack pursued by the cannibals*) “Time to go!”
– Will Turner (though I must say, it’s more hilarious in the trailer, where
he’s just like “Never mind, let’s go!”)
Also…
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END (2007)
When it comes to the argument that these films are
overstuffed and overly-complicated, At
World’s End is most likely the primary film in the series that receives the
most flak for this. It’s the longest film in the series with a runtime of
nearly three hours and was also the most expensive film ever made at the time,
becoming the first film ever to have a budget of at least $300 million. And,
admittedly, in some cases the critics are right. It IS a bit overlong and there
are some instances where the plot gets overly complicated, namely during the
second act where characters begin to repeatedly double-cross one another in
scenes that admittedly make the film start to drag. However, once again, when
this film does something great, it’s fantastic. For a film that was the most
expensive film ever made at the time, it does live up to its status as a $300
million film. This is easily the biggest film in the entire series in terms of
its scale, set design, visuals, and action sequences and it’s all fantastic
from a technical perspective. Case in point, if you can make it through the
hefty runtime, the film ends with what is easily the series’ best finale to
date, as our heroes battle Davy Jones and his crew in the middle of a raging
maelstrom, complete with an impromptu wedding between Will and Elizabeth
ministered by Barbossa. Thus, like Dead
Men’s Chest, I think At World’s End also
gets too much of a bad reputation. I mean, to be fair, if I had to rank these
films, admittedly this one would probably rank last amongst the original
trilogy. It is somewhat of a chore to sit through at parts with a runtime that
damn near rivals the Lord of the Rings films.
However, I’d argue that it’s worth it for one of the best finales of any film
from this past decade, making this a solid conclusion to the original trilogy
of Pirates films.
Rating: 4.5/5
“Mr. Gibbs, you may
throw my hat if you like!” (*Gibbs throws Jack’s hat*) “Now go and get it!” – Jack Sparrow
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011)
While it seemed like At
World’s End marked the end of the series, it instead returned four years
later with a new installment, On Stranger
Tides, inspired by a 1987 book of the same name by author Tim Powers that
also influenced the popular Monkey Island
series. This time around, directorial duties went to Rob Marshall, best
known for directing musicals like Chicago
and Into the Woods. And that
experience in theater does help, in a way, when it comes to choreographing the
action sequences. Like its previous installments, this film’s biggest strength
is through its technical merits; cinematography, set design, visuals, etc.
Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are great, as always, and Penelope Cruz is a
welcome addition to the franchise as Jack’s old flame Angelica. Ian McShane is
also great in the role of the film’s imposing villain, the infamous Blackbeard.
However, the film does run into a problem in terms of its overall scale, at
least when compared to previous installments. After the large-scale efforts in At World’s End, this film is decidedly
scaled down by comparison. This is, ultimately, both a good and bad thing. On
one hand, it means that the film isn’t trying to do as much in terms of story
and plot. But, at the same time, it’s still a vastly smaller scaled entry in
the series, complete with a finale that’s more on par with the first film’s
finale in terms of its overall scale. It truly makes you wonder how this film
ended up surpassing its predecessor as the most expensive film ever made. You
think At World’s End’s $300 million
budget was crazy? Apparently, this film’s budget was over $400 million. And, truth
be told, this doesn’t feel like that kind of film. It feels more like a $140
million film which, for the record… was the budget for the first film. Still,
at the end of the day, On Stranger Tides is
another enjoyable, albeit flawed, entry in this iconic series.
Rating: 4/5
“Did everyone see
that? Because I will not be doing it again!” – Jack Sparrow (after jumping from
a tall tower before it explodes)
And those are my
thoughts on the Pirates of the Caribbean
films. I recognize that I might be in the minority when it comes to those who
do like these films (along with my pal Alex Corey; be sure to check out his reviews of these films over on his site), but I’d argue that these are still
entertaining films despite some of their biggest flaws. Still, be sure to sound
off in the comments below with your own personal thoughts on these films. And
you can expect a review of Dead Men Tell
No Tales sometime this week. Until then, remember…
“This is the day you
will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!”
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