Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know this movie contains a LOT of peril and
action-violence. Characters are shot at, chased, dragged,
trampled, rolled down hills, and nearly roasted over an open
fire. In one disturbing scene, Will is tied to a mast and
flogged by Bootstrap Bill. Also, the grotesque pirates and CGI
sea creatures are menacing and downright scary. And there's
lots and lots of rum (yes we're talking about pirates but the
audience won't be able to buy the stuff for a decade...) But
depending on the maturity of your kids, this movie is okay for
kids 12 and up.
Families can talk about how far people should go in the name of friendship. Is Jack justified in dragging Will and Elizabeth into his adventure? He seems more than happy to sacrifice Will to Davy Jones so that HE can go free. What could he have done differently to protect his friends? Also talk about the fact that Elizabeth is just as strong as the men. In a role reversal, she faces danger and peril to rescue her man!
Common Sense Media Review
"You have a debt to pay," says an ominous voice. "You owe
Davy Jones your soul. That was the agreement. Time's up!" And
so begins the second installment of the franchise that's
turning pirates into rock stars of the new millennium.
Yes, the loopy Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is caught in yet another tangled web of ghostly creatures lurking deep in the ocean. It seems that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), ruler of the ocean and captain of the Flying Dutchman. And oh yeah, his beard is made up of creepy tentacles!
To find the chest, "you must sail to da ends of da eart' and beyond," proclaims Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), a mysterious voodoo priestess. In short, unless Jack can figure a way out of this predicament, he'll be doomed to an afterlife of eternal damnation and slavery (not to mention the end of this franchise, which we know isn't happening because "Pirates 3" is due out in 2007).
Being a pirate and an opportunist, Jack doesn't shy away from enlisting the help of his old friends, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his fiance, Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightly), who've been thrown into prison by the evil Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander), a representative of the East India Trading Company. Beckett has his own plan to keep Davy Jones and his ghoulish pirates from attacking his company's ships.
This movie is all about Johnny Depp, who camps it up from one action-packed scene to the next. Let's see…there's a giant sea monster, voodoo princess, barnacle-encrusted pirates, desert island, hungry cannibals, buried treasure, ghost ship, insane sword fight, and every other pirate cliche you can think of. Really, it gets a little exhausting, and after the first hour or two, the whole thing starts to wear on your psyche, even Depp's drunken pirate schtick, which seemed so fresh and fun in the first movie.
The storyline puts Will and Elizabeth's romance on the back-burner, and that's what helped to give the first movie some depth. Still, this movie is a lot of fun, moves along fairly well, and ends with a great cliff-hanger into Pirates 3. It would have been better if they'd chopped off about 30 minutes in the middle.
Kudos to Stellan Skarsgard ( Good Will Hunting ), who gives a heart-wrenching performance as Bootstrap Bill, and to Bill Nighy ( Love Actually ), who deserves a "best villain" award for bringing Davy Jones to life in all his tentacled glory.
No Keith Richards, though, as was rumored. Look for him in the third installment. Until then, check out some our Top Picks for other pirate movies.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
