[James@R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Grey

You know, one thing I was pretty pleased with was that DMC did feel pretty satisfying as a standalone film. But I really wish they had resolved the whole Davy Jones situation. I would prefer a new villain for Pirates 3.

I agree. I didn't mind the actual cliffhanger, but felt leaving the other plot threads open took away from the film's enjoyment a bit.

[MatthewLouwrens]

Loved it. I'm going again tonight, and I can't wait.

Thought the three-person swordfight was incredible, and well worth the ticket price by itself. I'm trying to think whether I have ever seen a swordfight like that before - three people, each fighting the other two as individuals - and I don't think I can. Great fight, and very funny as well.

The CGI on Davy Jones and the crew was astonishing. Really great work there. The only scene in the entire film that I can think of where I was offput by the effects was in the shot where the Kraken rose behind Jack - rather poor compositing there.

I thought the film developed the characters nicely. While Depp is obviously the star of the films, I really liked that each of the three leads were given their own plot line and opporunities to develop. I thought Chad's analysis of Elizabeth's development was bang-on - about how she used to romanticise pirates, but is now confronted with the reality and the selfishness of the lifestyle. It's really quite fascinating.

I'm surprised by the number of people that want the native scene cut. Yes, it was unnecessary to the actual story, but damn if it wasn't a great scene and a hell of a lot of fun.

It was a good cliffhanger ending, while still feeling like a satisfying film. I do wonder whether they should have ended the film before the trip to the voodoo shack - that scene was quite obviously setting up for the sequel. But end before that scene and it would work perfectly well as a film. (Of course, by not having that final scene, people may think Depp won't be in the third film, and may decide not to see it, so to that extent I guess it was necessary.)

Quote:

I just have to comment on that new Walt Disney Pictures opening logo.
It is seriously the best studio opening animation ever. Just wait till you guys check it out. It was beautiful. I can't wait to own this on Blu-Ray so I can repeat those 15 seconds over and over. It really is that good.

I absolutely agree. Simply stunning. I loved the way is really highlighted the Disneyland Castle - a nice reminder that this isn't a Disney movie, but a Disneyland movie.

[James@R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewLouwrens

The only scene in the entire film that I can think of where I was offput by the effects was in the shot where the Kraken rose behind Jack - rather poor compositing there.

I noticed this as well, but actually kind've enjoyed it. (Probably because it looked a little 'old school'. )

[Kevin Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by James@R

I noticed this as well, but actually kind've enjoyed it. (Probably because it looked a little 'old school'. )

Heh, the first thing I thought of in that scene was the "Ebersisk" sequence from Willow.

[Kevin Ley]

Just got back from the movie. I'd have to say my feelings are mixed as well.

First the bad; I felt the movie had an overly-long "feel" to it. Films in the past have managed similar running times, and yet had that "aw it's over already" feel to it. This was not one of those films.

I agree with people's comments on the runtime. It seemed to go on far to long with unnecessary scenes. The callback moments were far to prevalent, there were too many reused jokes from the first film that were only funny for those who saw it. A sequel, like any film, should run on it's own steam.

Well, the second half WAS a lot of fun. The choreography and fight scenes were all exciting and once things got off the ground, I found myself interested in the plot. I was surprised by the cliffhanger ending.

One thing that some of my friends and I agree with is that Will and Elizabeth and their story should have ended in the first film. Everyone agrees that Jack Sparrow was by far the most popular character and the movies would not have succeeded without him. I can't say the same for the rest of the cast of characters. I guess I thought it would have been cool for the "pirates" films to be centered all about Jack Sparrow and his adventures; just like the Indiana Jones films had Jones as the only reoccurring character.

I liked Jack and Will's relationship in the first film. All of the characters had good chemistry; and yet, I only thought of everyone else as supporting cast and Jack being the lead. I would have been happy with DMC having some new, colorful supporting characters for Jack to annoy. DMC could have been easily done without the others, but not without Jack.

I'd like to know what the rest of you think of that.

[Kevin Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewLouwrens

I thought the film developed the characters nicely. While Depp is obviously the star of the films, I really liked that each of the three leads were given their own plot line and opporunities to develop. I thought Chad's analysis of Elizabeth's development was bang-on - about how she used to romanticise pirates, but is now confronted with the reality and the selfishness of the lifestyle. It's really quite fascinating.

See, I'm just not seeing any development from the leads and that's really what I wanted from the film. Chad's analysis is interesting but I don't see it in the actual movie. And I really don't see anything interesting at all in Will or Jack's characters- both had basically the same motivations as the original film- one to save Elizabeth (Will )and one to save his own ass (Jack). The Will/Bootstrap Bill stuff had potential I suppose but felt underdeveloped.

Quote:

I'm surprised by the number of people that want the native scene cut. Yes, it was unnecessary to the actual story, but damn if it wasn't a great scene and a hell of a lot of fun.

It was neat but would have worked better as an immediately after the credits action scene like the Indy films. One of the advantages of a sequel is that there should be far less need for introductions at the outset. We could have jumped right into some swashbuckling with our leads almost from the first frame. Instead we gets lots of time devoted to expostion showing us where are characters are now which is, quite frankly, not very interesting. Has Will given up being a blacksmith, is he going to take up privateering, or perhaps a captain of a ship now? Don't know- the film only bothers to tell us that he was about to marry Elizabeth which was obvious from the end of the first film. Hell, it felt like an hour before the chief villain of the piece even made an onscreen appearance.

[Daniel-M]

55 million opening day, Taht's more than Supermans first weekend

[Greg Kettell]

I went to a 10am showing this morning and the theater was pretty full.

I was a little PO'ed at the cannibal scene that the dog got left behind. I'm glad I stayed till the end of the credits.

[Chris Harvey]

Interesting that many here are mixed on it, especially those that loved the first PIRATES.

I didn't much care for the original -- it was okay, but dragged and I thought the third act fell apart -- but I *loved* this one. Sure, you could tweak and trim a bit and probably shave 5-10 minutes, but I felt the script was far stronger structurally this time around, and the film and those involved felt more relaxed, looser, and off-the-cuff. It also helped that there was a great deal of ingenuity put into the set-pieces -- one of my quibbles from the first film is that there really weren't that many memorable and truly unique action scenes (the blacksmith shop fight and the Jack/Barbossa fight being the only ones above average). The action scenes in PIRATES 2 were like old-fashioned Tex Avery or Chuck Jones cartoons -- the lack of reality, IMHO, relieved them from hewing to the standard stuff you see in period action films and opened up a whole realm of wild and fun possibilities.

Tremendous work by ILM too -- I hope this finally garners them their first Oscar of the 21st century.

[PeterTHX]

FINALLY someone gives Industrial Light & Magic their props. Post after post of people going "the CGI was great" without mentioning who did the labor.

Thanks Chris Harvey for caring!