Postby Raiden no Kishi » Thu May 31, 2007 7:37 pm
Well, I just saw it [in costume ~ pics coming in the Post Your Pic thread], and I enjoyed it. Do not confuse that with thinking it was perfect, however.
Spoiler-laden analysis, AHOY! First box is critiques, second is what I liked.
[spoiler]Number One: Too much CG. I mean it. What made the CG work in CotBP [Curse of the Black Pearl, if you couldn't guess] was that it was understated. In the second two movies, they seemed to decide, "Hey! Those CG undead pirates were super keen! You know what we need? MORE CG PIRATES! WITH MORE CG! Blargh. And the fungus on the guys in the steam bath? Pointless. Srsly. However, I did think that, when they un-sealed Tia Dalma/Calypso, we should have gotten something other than her turning into a giantess and then a horde of crabs. But whatever. Too much CG. Also, I didn't like the "multiple Jacks" thing. It was kinda funny the first time, but it shouldn't have happened afterwards. It didn't make any sense. Okay, it didn't make sense the first time either.
Number Two: Contrived sequels. It was rather easy to tell that the second two movies were thought up after the first movie came out. How do I know? The second two movies connect stylistically and plot-wise quite well, whereas they don't connect to the first movie very well at all. CotBP was a straight-up, classic swashbuckling flick, with a little CG thrown in where it made sense. DMC and AWE [Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, respectively] were CG-heavy supernatural adventures with some piratey stuff thrown in. They should have planned the sequels out ahead of time [at least the basics], and then they would have worked better.
Number Three: Pirate Lords ~ WTC? The whole "Pirate Lord" thing didn't make much sense to me. It kinda goes against the . . . y'know . . . pirate thing. Also, the only Pirate Lords that actually looked like pirates were Barbossa [who is the man] and Jack. The Chinese lady didn't, the French guy was disturbing and wrong, the Indian guy didn't, the African didn't really either, the Arab almost did in a Middle Eastern kinda way, and the other guy [I think he was a Spaniard] only sorta looked like a pirate. If you're a Pirate Lord, you had darned well better look like a pirate. Captain Teague looked like a pirate, but a] he wasn't a Pirate Lord and b] things I liked aren't in this section.
Number Four: What were they thinking with Davy Jones, Will, and Norrington? Okay, first of all, we don't ever know what happened as far as Davy and Calypso goes. At least, I don't remember any closure, except for Davy's heart getting stabbed. Secondly, they made Will the new captain of the Flying Dutchman. WHAT? Who the HECK would make Orlando freakin' Bloom the Grim Reaper of the seas? That's stupid. Also, they killed Norrington. In fact, they kinda dumped on the guy for all three movies. First movie: He's at his best, but he really ends up being thwarted and upstaged by Jack and Will. Second movie: They take him way the heck out of character and make him some filthy, cranky drunk with none of the honor or concern for others that he had in the first movie. Third movie: as soon as we see him restored to who he was in the first movie and shown as the hero he should have been all along, he's pointlessly stabbed to death. I really liked Norrington and think he deserved better.
Number Five: I hear they're going to make a fourth film ~ they certainly left it open. NO. DO NOT WANT. Disney, you are terrible with the sequels. This cash cow's udder is sore. Let it go. If they do make a fourth film, I predict a horrible waste of film.
I just wish they had stayed with a classis swashbuckling story like the first movie. [/spoiler]
And now, for the positive comments:
[spoiler] I liked Keith Richards as Captain Teague. It worked well IMO. "Hang the code!" : : bang : : "The code is law." Although it seemed ironic that a guy like Keith Richards would be the character most obsessed with the law, no? I also liked that they made Norrington the hero he should have been all along. Sadly, he then died an ignominous death. Poor guy. It also appears that Will almost learned to emote in this film. Wow. Overall, the movie was much more entertaining than DMC. We did see Jack and Barbossa continue to bicker about whose ship the Pearl really was. That was fun. Although it was pretty random, the marriage scene was pretty funny. "You may kiss." : : fighting : : ". . . You may kiss . . ." : : fighting : : "Just kiss!" Thank you, Barbossa. Plenty of fun moments. [/spoiler]
.rai//
[raiden's liveJournal][color="Indigo"]"I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you . . .
stranger."[/color]
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