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When I was in my lower teens we went to Orlando in Florida and visited the home of a certain world famous mouse. At the time I thought it odd that there would be a ride there about Pirates of the Carribbean, when to my knowledge there had never been a film of that name.

That all changed when Curse of the Black Pearl hit our screens a few years back, with a certain Johnny Depp stealing the heart of the cinema goer as the lovable rogue Jack Sparrow. It was also the first time I'd ever really heard of Ms. Knightly who plays Elizabeth Swan, the daughter of an aristocrat. Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom took the other lead as son of a pirate, Will Turner.

Following the unexpected success of the first Pirates film, it was expanded into a trilogy (the done thing at the moment) with the release of last year's 'Dead Man's Chest' in which we meet the Flying Dutchman another cursed ship captained by Davy Jones (a fish monster) whom Capt Jack owes 100 years of service.

When at the end of Dead Man's Chest, Jack is eaten by the Cragen, a massive tenticled sea monster, and it's Elizabeth's fault they all decide to get him back by travelling to Davy Jones Locker - a place which is kinda like pergatory.

Contains spoilers

So we join the unlikely crew, joined by the now somehow resurrected Capt. Barbossa, the enemy who was killed at the end of Pirates 1 to save Jack from being dead.

Jack, who is clearly losing the plot a bit, seeing and killing other versions of himself aboard the Black Pearl, which is also in the Locker, initially believes that his rescuers are just figments of his imagination - and then why wouldn't you? After all the rock-crabs have just delivered your boat to the sea.

After escaping from the Locker, they head for an assembly of pirates to discuss how they are going to survive the attack by the fleet and specifically the Flying Dutchman which is now at their control.

But it turns out that the strange sourceress that they met towards the end of the 2nd film is actually a goddess imprisoned in human form, Barbosa hopes releasing her will tilt the battle in their favour.

What was right with it? It wasn't afraid to kill off characters, which many Disney films are. Though it is true that the characters killed off were minor ones, at least the cast has shrunk slightly from its massive size. When it did action it did it very well and in a very fun way. It also did explain more about the Flying Dutchman, it's curse and all that stuff which was a bit sketchy in the second film.

However, there was something off about it, and I can't quite work out what it was. Maybe it's the almost overnight transformation of Elizabeth from the governor's daughter type to full blown King of the Pirates. Maybe it's the villification of the fleet and it's commanders.

One of the best things about Curse of the Black Pearl was that the soldiers were not the bad guys. They were actually upholding the law and the pirates, though lawbreakers, somehow won our respect anyway. The problem here is that the Pirates are clearly the 'good-guys' fighting against the evil, law abiding, sailors of the Navy.

The other thing that Pirates 1 got right was the balance of fantasy and history. Everyone scoffed at their being a 'Black Pearl' which was crewed by the dead and it came as a surprise that they were undead. It was clever, witty and fun.

Unfortunately this film takes the fantasy too far, it makes the world flat, it introduces goddesses into the equation and tries to make Davy Jones locker into a real place. And as for historical setting, well there is no further development in this area.

Perhaps I am being too critical, if you want a fun family film then, for the most part, this is one for you. Like the first film, some bits might scare younger viewers.

In some ways it felt a bit like they were trying to emulate Return of the Jedi, with the rescue of a main character near the start, and at other points like X-Men: The Last Stand with their talk of final battles.

It's worth watching if you love Jack Sparrow, Kiera Knightly, Orlando Bloom and want to know how it all ends.

see also:
Spider-man 3, Spider-man, Spider-man 2, Iron Man

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photo © Walt Disney.