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Okay. I’m going to try and be as truthful as possible with this review, and not let any reviews that I’ve read or things that I’ve heard persuade me in my opinion of this movie. Which is hard because on one side I have Rotten Tomatoes telling me it’s a “glazed, inhuman, cluttered piece of work” and then kids at school telling met that the end fight scene was “So awesome!!! That whirlpool was amazing!” Now, I try to mix both of these sides into my review fairly…

After the somewhat dissappointing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 I wasn’t originally planning to see the 3rd film in theaters. But the magic of advertising got me excited about it and, well, I saw it last Monday.

“Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End” is really not a good name for the movie. Sure, they go to the end of the world. But a more aptly named title would be “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, in Singapore, in Antartica, and of course the Caribbean.” The movie is all over the place. They’re in Singapore, then snap they’re on the largest waterfall you’ve ever seen, then snap they’re back in the Caribbean. Much like the second movie, the storyline is confusing because the characters seem to suddenly be on the other side of the world whenever they need to be.

I’m not going to explain any of the storyline, because there’s just too much. And you probably know most of it. But anyway, Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer tried to mix in waay to many stories into this movie. Having so many stories and substories is confusing and just drags the movie on longer.

The movie also sort of jumps the shark. There’s too much supernatural stuff. In Pirates 2, Davy Jones was supposedly the “Devil of the Sea.” Now they have the British making deals with him, and him having a… wait for it…. love interest. Davy Jones - a love interest! These, among other things make the movie a bit unbelieveable and a little unrealistic.

Now, for the good stuff: Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp does a better job here than in both of the previous two movies while playing Jack Sparrow. He brings a lot of wit and humor to the role that could have easily been lost in the sea of subplots. Somehow, Jack Sparrow keeps the movie going through it’s rough spots with his humor. But this is of course also thanks to the scriptwriters. They manage to get Jack into the situations that make him react so well. The movie has some of the best bits of humor from all three films, and manages to keep it strong even during the intense scenes.

I’ve also got to give the rest of the cast credit, though. Geoffrey Rush is seriously the best pirate as Captain Barbosa (except for Depp, of course) that I’ve ever seen. His “resurrection” was a great idea. Orlando Bloom continues to have just barely enough to do to count as one of the leading roles, and he does that just fine. I felt that in this one it was really great to see Keira Knightley finally go completely pirate. She started out as a typical rich British woman in Pirates 1, and it’s been great to see her evolution into a full-blown pirate in the 3rd one.

So the acting really wasn’t bad, although it was nothing spectacular. But those special effects. THOSE were spectacular. Sure, Pirates 1 had some great special effects. Pirates 2 were just plain awesome. But now, in Pirates 3 it literally blew me away. Davy Jones: Officially the best and most awesome CGI character. Every. He outbeats Gollum/Smeagol by miles.

Finally: The soundtrack. Hans Zimmer did a great job on the previous two soundtracks, and this one was better than both of them. The movie simply would not be the same if it weren’t for Hans Zimmer’s wonderful soundtrack. Enough said.

So overall, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 manages to entertain me well as a popcorn flick, but as not much else. If the story were less incoherent and the supernatural stuff more realistic, the movie could be considered more than that. But for now, it’s just a popcorn flick, if not a very fun one that is considerably better than Pirates 2. But as a movie critic, I’ll have to grade it primarily on the important stuff…

[rating:2.5]

OMG, I can’t believe that I forgot to talk about Keith Richards’ cameo! It didn’t really have much to do with the story, but he was a good pirate. He reminded of an older (and much scarier) Jack Sparrow. Well, that makes sense seeing as he played his faher.

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