Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Effeminate pirate Johnny Depp? Check. Hot as heck Keira Knightley? Check. Legolas? Check. Super saturated atmosphere and more pirate slang, myths, and cliches thrown at you in the span of 30 seconds than every pirate movie ever made? Check. Smells like a Pirates of theCaribbeann movie. Disney brings back 2003's summer blockbuster based on their aging theme park ride for another go around in Pirates of theCaribbeann: Dead Man's Chest; the first of two sequels filmed back to back.

If you didn't see the first one, don't fret, any pertinent back story is taken care of quickly enough in the first few minutes, while simultaneously setting up the plot for the rest of the movie. After that it's another roller coaster ride of action set pieces, slap stick humor, over the top special effects, and scene stealing Depp.

Technically, there's not a whole lot wrong with this new Pirates movie. It's by far the most entertaining movie of the summer, thus far. The filmmakers took great care to preserve the feeling and fun from the first movie while also raising the bar. It's as a summer blockbuster should be.

But perhaps the filmmakers took a little too much care preserving the first movie's feel. A lot of the plot mechanics return. Once again we have a crew of the damned, a cursed ship, relationship problems, and an overly long final cut. It's as if they copy and pasted different names and locations into the original script and said go. There's a sense of deja vu in practically everything that happens. And the parts that are different aren't as good as the parts that are repeated. There's also an emphasis on non-Depp (read: non-interesting) characters and their own sub-plots. Let's be honest; Captain Jack Sparrow is the glue that held the first movie, this movie, and, presumably, its sequel together. Everything else is filler. And at 150 minutes, that's a lot of filler.

Negatives aside, this is still a fun, highly entertaining film, and fans of the first one will probably like this one just as much. If you didn't like the first don't expect to have your mind changed this time.

Grade = B-