***Official "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

Oh yeah, and based on the results of Pirates combined with how strong Murphey's family film efforts have played, throw in a pretty impressive looking trailer (at least the visuals you see) and I think Disney is sitting pretty with a 3rd hit in Haunted Mansion this Thanksgiving.

 

[Kenneth Lee]

Hey All,

I just saw PIRATES of the CARIBBEAN (opening night), and...

IT ROCKED!


This has to be, by far, the funnest movie of the year, hands down. I thought it was a better, more *entertaining* movie than Matrix Reloaded, X-2 (barely), CA2, etc.

Mind you, it's not "serious, deep, epic action" like Gladiator, but it's just FUN. There's a bit of camp, some one-liners, but it never took itself too seriously, and we all just had a great time watching it.

Johnny Depp rocked - his INTRO in the movie as Captain Jack Sparrow ranks up there as one of the great intros ever. LOL! Great stuff.

Geoffrey Rush was great, and Keira Knightley is the HOTTEST gal on the planet

The swashbuckling was fun, action scenes were set up nicely, and the CG was done tastefully and blended well. The pacing felt good, and even though it's over 2 hours, I never felt it as being "long" at all.

Highly recommended! I can't wait for the DVD!

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

 

[paul_v]

Why is it rated PG-13? My wife won't allow the kiddos to see any PG-13 film but with this being a Disney flick and all I will try to convince her it's ok (my step kids are ages 7 (boy) and 5 (girl).

It sounds like a really fun film.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Why is it rated PG-13? My wife won't allow the kiddos to see any PG-13 film but with this being a Disney flick and all I will try to convince her it's ok (my step kids are ages 7 (boy) and 5 (girl).

I hate to say it Paul, but your wife may be right this time.

Obviously you know your kids and what sort of movie stuff they can handle, but my opinion is that it may be a bit intense for some kids. The skeletons are scary in a few spots, plus there are some throat-slittings late in the film. Bloodless and quick-cut, but still fairly vicious.

This is not a movie that would traumatize your kids, but my advice would be to go see it with your wife first. Odds are you'll like it enough to give it a second spin with the kiddies, should you and the Mrs. decide it's suitable.

Another resource you could refer to is the Screen It review. That's a site that simply lists any potentially questionable material; it's not a censorship or religious website. (Not that religion and censorship are necessarily related, but I like Screen It because their only goal is to educate parents on potentially 'adult' content.)

One article I read about Pirates had a Disney exec quoted as saying (I'm paraphrasing here): "Hey, even at Disney World, some of the rides are not intended for young children."

 

[paul_v]

Thanks Scott! It sounds like there was a reason the movie is PG-13 Guess my wife and I will see it this weekend without the kiddos.

 

[Tino]

Seth, glad you liked it! I had a feeling you would like it a bit more than me.

FWIW, My screening ws interrupted by the fact that I had to leave three times to complain about the film not being framed properly, in addition to being out of focus. Neither problem was fixed and I was distracted throughout.

The Pirates definitely couldn't eat or drink as Seth mentions above. It was endless torture for them. Barbosa and the apples, remember, and when he drank, the liquor just poured out of him.

This is one of my favorite Depp performances. It's great to see him lighten up once in a while.

And regarding the PG-13 rating, this is one of the few time when I agree that it may be too violent for children under 13. Especially the climax.

 

[FredK]

Gave it :star: :star: :star: of 4 in the review thread.

So, is Will's dad still alive until the curse is lifted? I really thought that would be the impetus for Will removing the curse at a bad time for the good guys. As it turns out Capt Jack had figured out a nice easy reason why it should be lifted.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Loved it!

I also thought it was made crystal clear by Rush's Captain Barbosa why the pirates would want to give up their undead immortality.

 

[FredK]

I also thought it was made crystal clear by Rush's Captain Barbosa why the pirates would want to give up their undead immortality.

Yeah, the whole scene between the Captain and Elizabeth is pretty much dedicated to this, and sets up the visual of the apple.

 

[Bill J]

I thought the film made it clear that while they may still have instincts for living it up pirate style, they could not actually enjoy any of it. They could not taste, feel, smell the plunder they wanted to enjoy and were being driven by an insatiable (literally) lust/desire.

That may be true but the film did a horrible job of portraying them in that manner. They all seemed too human in my opinion. I think the film would have been much better if it had a darker tone.


I also thought the CGI could have been better, which I don't recall mentioning in my review post.

Apparently I am the minority after seeing this film. I am glad you all enjoyed it. I definitely did not.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I guess I disagree on the CGI thing to. As with any CGI there are moments when you can tell, but I was most impressed with its usage as pirates flipped between human and skeleton as they hit shadows and stuff.

I guess you are saying that the general behavior seemed like pirates that could still feel. I can see that but I often felt like they were still acting in the manner that they were familiar with. Plus, its not like they lost their lust and desire which drove their attitude to want to plunder and pursue the life of pirating, they simply never could enjoy the effort after the fact like the pirates in Tortuga were doing.



My one problem with the script was how Will's dad and Will's blood tied into the curse and lifting it. Of course it was clear what actions needed to be done to lift it, but exactly why the curse should work this way or how the pirates could ever guess that it would was not clear at all.

Will was a pirate that stole cursed gold but is dead? Of course they said they left him at the bottom of the ocean so maybe he's just been trapped forever...but then that would mean death as soon as the curse was lifted.

So I'll go with him not being cursed even though he somehow got his hand on a piece of gold. I assume the curse comes from reaching into the trunk and taking the gold (makes sense since the girl wasn't cursed).

But then its not clear why Will's blood would need to be spilled to end the curse. Why did his action warrant that sort of result from the curse? Its not important to understanding the film and they were consistent with the idea that they did need his blood, period, but I still wondered why.



Kids and this film. As I was saying in the BO thread, families will take their kids to this film, but that doesn't make it a good idea. It shows quite a lot of rather violent stabbings and death even early in the film. And the image of the skeletons is certain to scare young children I think. I would guess that even 10 years old might be a borderline age to see this film based on individual kids ability to deal with such images.

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Maybe it should have been rated "ARRRRRRRRRRRR" instead, no? (Okay that was a cheap joke)

-Dennis

 

[FredK]

Will was a pirate that stole cursed gold but is dead? Of course they said they left him at the bottom of the ocean so maybe he's just been trapped forever...but then that would mean death as soon as the curse was lifted.

Like I said this jumped right out at me and I thought it would be an important point eventually. Will's dad was cursed, later in the movie one of the pirates said something to the effect "Bootstrap said we all deserved the curse" so that puts him in the timeline, plus he had the gold, and was a pirate. I can't believe Will's wanting to free his dad didn't come into the picture, and since it didn't frame the curse differently! I definitely found the curse to be the soft point in the story.

Maybe Will should've been cursed too? He had the gold and pirate's blood, and that's all it takes as seen by Jack's getting the curse. Will didn't steal it, but if he qualified for removal of the curse he should have qualified to be cursed too.

The CG was great. The only weak spots had to do with CG'ing features of the minatures onto the shooting sets. The skeletons & their transitions were outstanding, the fight between Jack & Barbossa was great.

 

[Bill J]

I thought the CGI skeletons were unconvincing. Perhaps they should have given the job to Ray Harryhausen?
However, I was somewhat impressed with the action sequences though. They seemed to avoid the recent trend of excessively close shots and the ridiculously quick editing.

Also- Why didn't the English let the pirates end the curse so the sailors could kill them?

 

[Matt Butler]

I am in the majority here who loved it.

Depp and Rush were great, the girl was a hottie and being Pirates is one of my favorite rides at Disneyland I loved the references (especially the dog with the keys and Depps line in that scene).

Thumbs up!!

 

[Holadem]

I would guess that even 10 years old might be a borderline age to see this film based on individual kids ability to deal with such images.

I haven't seen the film yet, but the very first movie I saw in a theater was Indy and the Temple of Doom. I was perhaps 7-9 years old. It scared the crap out of me, for a long time I thought it was a horror movie.

--
Holadem

 

[Tino]

Not surprising Holadem since that film was instumental in creating the PG-13 rating.

BTW, There was a woman in the screening that I saw that repeated that "Arrrrrrrrr" joke everytime new people came into the theater. It was funny the first time, but she must have repeated it five times.:rolleyes

I'm seeing this again on Sunday in DLP with the wife who is a big Depp fan. And as I told Seth before, the more I think back on Pirates, the more I think I may have been too harsh on it because of a poor presentation. We'll see.

 

[Raymond_H]

Just came back, and I don't know really how the movie was.

The movie going experience was SHIT. People in front with cell phones, kids in the back kicking, the lights were slightly on (dimmed) throughout the whole entire movie, and the worst part and I'm hoping its not the movie or me, the whole crowd was silent and hush the whole time.

Definetly the enviorment played a BIG part on how I viewed this movie. Johnny Depp's performance only got reaction from about 3-5 people (including myself) out of about a 3rd full theater. He was wonderful, and should've been more appreciated.

As for the rest of the movie, from what I saw, I don't think it warrants a 2nd viewing under normal circumstances in a theater. I think I will wait until I have the luxury of the movie in my own household.

I kept thinking of the Mummy or its sequel mixed in with the Gladiator score during this movie. The only thing that seperated itself was Depp's character.

Right now I give it :star: :star: out of :star: :star: :star: :star:

Raymond

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Lately, I tend to avoid DLP presentations like the plague unless the film in question is "digital" in nature (like AOTC for example)...I've seen waay too many DLP presentations of "regular" films (Akira, Spirited Away, Minority Report, etc.) and was put off by the obvious pixel structure, especially at my preferred seating location (in the middle, mid-way back from the screen). And I've seen that problem at pretty "cutting edge" theaters here in Northern Calif.; AMC 1000 in SF, and the Sony Metreon, which use Texas Instruments & Boeing (!?) projectors, respectively.

Anyways...I'll try to see Pirates this weekend and report back to my trusty HTF companions...

ARRRRR indeed...

-Dennis

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well I was wrong about Ebert. He gave it three stars.

Same as he gave Cutthroat Island.

Well, I'd put 'em about equal. Pirates had better acting, but Cutthroat better action (that last act of Cutthroat Island, with the two ships blasting the hell out of each other, is a favorite of mine). Still, this is a ton of fun. One thing that Depp and company realize, that most of the cast of CI apparently didn't, was that scenery in a pirate movie exists to be chewed. Really, subtlety has no place here.

And, hey, not only do we get pirates, we get skeleton pirates. And not only do we get skeleton pirates, but we get a skeleton pirate monkey! Does it get any better?


One question, though - why wasn't Elizabeth cursed? Does the curse only affect be the person who steals it from that chest? That was what I suspected, but I'm not sure it was specifically mentioned.