Arts & Entertainment
 

Summer's curse ends with 'Pirates'

By Leslie Smith
The Daily Cougar

This summer has been plagued by one meaningless sequel after another. Fortunately, a flick has sailed along just in time to save the masses from drowning. Although based on a corny amusement ride in Disneyland, director Gore Verbinski reinvigorates a dead genre with The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The movie is both engaging and charming even though it runs a little on the lengthy side --135 minutes to be exact. 

The film begins with a prologue. A girl is interested in pirates; a boy is found floating in the wreckage of a ship;and a gold coin is stolen. The boy is unaware that the girl has robbed him. The story then jumps ahead to the overly used love story, about 10 years later when the children are grown. 

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), the boy from the water, loves the governor's daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightly, a Natalie Portman clone) who is the girl who took his coin. Amongst side plots the basic story line is that a ship, the Black Pearl, and its pirate inhabitants have become the victims of an Aztec curse that was placed on a stolen chest of gold.

In order to relieve the curse, they need the last piece of gold, which happens to be the coin Elizabeth took from Will. In short, the pirates take Elizabeth to become free of the curse and Will goes in quick pursuit to save the woman he loves. 

Unfortunately, he cannot do this alone. He receives help from pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Although spotted earlier in the film, this is where Captain Sparrow really hits the scene with his own motives for lending aide. He agrees to help Will save his girlfriend from the hands of the evil Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush), the captain of the Black Pearl. 

Captain Sparrow's character provides the film with cheesy comic relief and great dancing sword fights.

The audience may walk out with some unanswered questions, but these are quickly overlooked because of the film's action. With all the typical scenarios of cannons, swordplay and even a "Yo, ho, ho!" here and there, it turns out to be one of the best movies of the summer. The characters are colorful, predictable and fun. 

This may not be a movie to spark deep thought or require too much from the viewer besides a long attention span, but it is entertaining and definitely worth seeing in the theater. 

Verbinski's attempt to turn a theme ride into a movie is definitely a bigger success than last summer's debacle The Country Bears. 

The rating for this movie is PG-13 for violence (sword fights, acts of piracy and such), some language, and slight comic vulgarity. 

The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Starring: Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, Geoffrey Rush

Rated: PG-13

Disney

The verdict: Ent-aarrgh the theater ready for laughs.

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