I've been thinking lately about why I enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie so much more than these last two. I mean, it's the same characters, same settings, much of the same humour...and it's not like the plot of the first one WASN'T outlandish, so that's not really a fair critique of the last two. Then I figured it out. You see, the first one, while it does have great special effects, a lot of action, etc., is character driven more than anything else. All the other great stuff in it is superflous, and serves to advance the characters. You grow attached to Will, Jack, Elizabeth...heck, even Geoffrey Rush. The one-liners flow, and they are earned, because the characters are so well-drawn. What happened with the last two chapters is that they fell in love with topping themselves, going overboard with crazy plots, exotic locations, insane characters, and massive special effects/action sequences. And that took over, while the characters themselves (especially the core 3) suffered from lack of use. Lacey brought up a good point that they really changed Captain Sparrow in the third, not giving him much of a chance to be funny...but in reality, they did that to ALL the characters, and didn't give them much of a chance to do anything at all, except advance the plot. So I guess what I'm saying is that in the first one, the plot/special effects advanced the characters and their stories, and in the last 2, the characters served only to advance the plot/special effects. And while I enjoyed both, they just don't hold up ultimately to the "good movie" test, and will be forgotten. I still hold out hope for the fourth, even though Kiera Knightley has said she wouldn't do another. We'll see.
Posted by jmmelton at June 4, 2007 05:04 PM | TrackBack