I loved the original Pirates of the Caribbean, and so I was excited to go see the sequel. I won't write a long review, except to say that this movie is to the original what Star Wars Episode 3 was to the original Star Wars. It seems to have forgotten what made the original a success, and focused instead on elaborate special effects and a confused plot. The effects are amazing, and may be alone worth the price of one viewing, but the movie itself was only so-so.
The plot wandered around aimlessly at times, and key elements, such as exactly how Jack got crosswise with Davy Jones in the first place, get a very very short exposition, which seem odd in a 2-1/2 hour movie. This is the same mistake many action movie sequels make - the Indiana Jones movies come to mind in particular. The sequels go for action action action continuously on the screen, forgetting that the original had long stretches of quiet periods that actually moved the plot and characters along.
Of all the plot elements, the sudden introduction of the ex-commodore Norrington seems the most forced. There feels like there are one two many characters in the movie, with Sparrow, Will, the governor, the east India guys, Norrington, Davy Jones, etc. all having independent agendas. This is fine for a taught character drama, but for a light action movie it is overly complex, and feels like Mission Impossible 2 where the writers tried to outdo the original in twists and turns and betrayals. The introduction of Norrington does set up an interesting 3-way fight (kind of reminiscent of the awesome final scene in God, Bad, and the Ugly). Like much of the film, the fight is kindof fun but falls short somehow. And looking back on the movie, I can't figure out why the whole first part of the movie with the cannibals was even in there. Basically, it did nothing to advance the plot.
The worst offense of the movie in my mind is that it underutilized Johny Depp. Depp, whose performance really made the first movie, is OK but is not really allowed to be great. The writers have him reprising his best bits from the first movie, rather than doing anything new. It all feels a bit stale.
Oh, and by the way, does every single Hollywood movie have to find a way to make a large corporation the villain? I mean, is it a writers guild requirement or something? Even this movie set in the 18th century has to seek out the one and only large corporation in the world and use it as a villain.
