Pirates Of The Caribbean is a film based on a popular attraction at Disneyland in America. I'll state that again. Pirates Of The Caribbean is a film based on a fairground ride. What's next. a film based on a fireworks display? Why not base a film on the pleasures of a good foot massage? combine this with the director of the one ton turkey that was The Mexican and the fact that the last successful pirate film probably featured Errol Flynn and the only rational explanation for this film being made is as an elaborate insurance scam. But, like the plot of The Producers by Mel Brooks, the end is a palpable hit.
Principle credit for this doesn't lie with johnny Depp for his superlative Peppe Le Pew meets Keith Richards goofball pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. Instead the credit must go to each and every other member of the production for allowing Depp free rein to go as nuts as he likes when someone has invested a good $100m in the production. Now that's brave. Of course Depp himself probably deserves a tiny piece of the credit for coming up with such a loony idea in the first place and carrying it off.
The story is a bunch of hokum that the writers of Shrek cobbled together down the bar after work involving a shipful of pirate zombies who are pursued by two men, one after a girl they've kidnapped and the other after the ship itself. Needless to say the pirate zombies are marvels of CGi and the action sequences have the rigour and energy that only a production that hasn't even dreamt of going onto the high seas can achieve.
As far as the rest of the cast go, Geoffrey Rush is just a wooden leg and an "Ahh Jim lad" away from the best Long john Silver send up on record and Keira Knightley gets to have her cake and eat it as a tomboy in a corset, looking great and kicking ass. it is further proof that mighty oaks can rise from humble acorns.