Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

And what a rip-roaring adventure series this is turning out to be.

John and I attended the Lido last night and had a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours watching Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley swash and buckle their way through Part 2 of this adventure series.

Alternately dark and scary, then light and hilarious, this is a great fun movie. It even managed to make me jump at one point - and I haven't done that since I was 15 years old.

The plot line is simple - Capt Jack Sparrow is in trouble again, this time with Davy Jones. He owes him a debt of service and now is being chased for its payment. Into the mix throw the East India Trading Company, warrants for the arrest of Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, and suddenly you have everyone running around the Caribbean looking for keys and chests, dealing and double dealing as they go.

The fight scenes are raucous as expected, there is much sword play and some exceedingly funny pieces of physical and visual comedy. Gore Verbinski definitely had his tongue in his cheek through many scenes. My particular favourite running gag involves a waterwheel from an old mill.

The special effects are excellent. I just loved what they did to Davy Jones and his crew, especially the guy with the shell for a head - most funny. And if you haven't already fallen in love with Bill Nighy's work in "Love Actually" or "Underworld" then you have been missing out. He is a prolific, talented actor. And it's amazing to think that under all those special effect tentacles you still get a sense of a character - twitches and all.

I'd be cautious about taking smaller kids who might want to see this film. It gets a PG-13 or an M rating (depending on your country of origin) and it does deserve it. The dark bits are dark, and there is plenty of nudge, nudge, wink, wink sexual humour and innuendo (kids will probably not notice this, of course). So, it will probably be best to leave the little ones at home, no matter how much they beg to go with you.

If you want a full, and fair, review of the movie take a look at the excerpt from Rolling Stone on the Lido website.

My rating: 4 out of 5.
My advice: See it in the theatre, then save up to buy the boxed set after the third film comes out next year.
My rationale: You will never see a more wonderfully lovable, annoying, funny, villainous or seductive portrayal of a pirate captain. Captain Jack Sparrow really is a masterpiece of Johnny Depp's acting talent.