When it comes to general Pirates in our
pop-culture, Disney has probably had the biggest influence on the genera. One
of Walt Disney’s first hit live-action movies was 1950’s “Treasure Island”, which would have further adaptions under the Disney banner including “Muppet’s
Treasure Island” and the animated “Treasure Planet”. Pirates would continue to appear in other
Disney classics like 1968's "Blackbeard's Ghost", or “Swiss Family Robinson” in 1960, and need I forget one of
Disney’s most iconic villains … one Captain Hook from “Peter Pan”. The
big one however came in 1967, with the opening of the theme park attraction
“Pirates of the Caribbean”, which was the final thing Walt
Disney oversaw the creation of at Disneyland before his untimely passing.
Needless to say, it’s remained one of Disneyland’s most iconic attractions, and
the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)"
is likewise a Disney staple. Speaking personally for a moment, as a kid, I
grew-up in San Diego California, and my family made it a tradition to vacation
at Disneyland. As one would expect, “Pirates of the Caribbean” was one
of our favorite rides, and was always one of the first we had to go on. Over
time, the rides popularity sky-rocketed in 2003, with the release of a
theatrical movie adaption titled “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl” … and with it, Disney put the definitive staple of Pirates in
adventure cinema.
This movie premiered at a time when
Hollywood was desperate for new ideas, to the point where they were willing to
release anything … no matter how strange or unusual. I bring this up because
prior to its release … “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
Pearl” looked like another desperate attempt to try something different.
The poster looked silly, the idea of adapting a theme park ride seemed
outlandish, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s name was attached after the
critical and commercial failure of 2001’s “Pearl Harbor” ... no doubt the reason why the ship in the movie is named the Black Pearl.
Also, the
films competition at the time was “The Return of the King” and the
anticipated “Matrix” sequels, so it seemed like it was dead on a rival.
Yet, the film subverted audience expectations, became a smashing success, and
stands as one of the most commercially successful, and influential action
adventure movies of its decade. It was that special breath of fresh air
Hollywood needed at the time, and an important reminder that studios should
take creative risks when coming up with new ideas. The big take away is that it
attracted a wider audience then people who were simply fans of the ride, and the film
did take an identity of its own separate from its source material. While I’ve
never called myself a die-hard fan of “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse
of the Black Pearl”, I certainly have great fondness reserved for the film,
and as far as straight forward adventure movies are concerned, I’ve always
viewed this movie as a genera classic in its own right.
The premise revolves around a group of
Pirates who got a little too greedy for their own good, and ended up stealing
gold that had a curse upon it. Now, the pirates are immortal, but without the
pleasures of human life, and the moon light reveals them as living corpses.
As
such, the wicked Captain Barbossa
and his crew of the Black Pearl seek any means they can to lift their curse and
become whole again. Believing a young woman named Elizabeth to be the key to
their salvation, they kidnap her and set sail to the island of the cursed gold.
Desperate to rescue her, love interest Will Turner seeks help from an inept
Pirate Captain named Jack Sparrow, who was previously the captain of the cursed
Black Pearl crew. The premise is simple, yet layered, and the overall
experience is laced with a refreshing sense of escapist fun. What I loved most
about the film was its screenplay, and how it played with certain conventions.
Typically, in a genera film of this sort, the villains would be seeking
immortality, but this film tries something new by presenting the pirates simultaneously
as both the threats and victims of their own blundering.
The dashing hero Will Turner is revealed to
have a family heritage tied in with the pirates, but rather than being
constantly spoon-fed information, he’s smart enough to learn things about his
family ties on his own. Aside from that, he’s admittedly the most “vanilla”
character of the film, but Orlando Bloom at least plays the part well, and he
does his job as the defined hero character to cheer for. Elizabeth likewise is
a girl who needs to be rescued, but she’s not a one-note damsel either, and
proves to have both brains and resourcefulness. Once again, I’ve seen better
examples of strong damsel characters in films like “Raiders of the Lost”
and “The Mummy”, but Keira Knightley is at least a dignified actress,
and gives a committed performance in the role. Also, I can’t glance over a
talented supporting cast, including Jack Davenport as Commodore Norrington,
Kevin McNally as Mr. Gibbs, Jonathan Pryce as Governor Swann, and a young Zoe
Saldana in a minor role as a pirate named Anamaria. This was prior to her
breakout roles in “Avatar”, “Star Trek” and “Gradians of the
Galaxy”, and it’s great to see her in this, even if it’s a small role. A
part of me wishes she could have been the female lead, or at the very least,
taken a leading role in one of the many sequels.
Geoffery Rush is a versatile actor who
can shine in a number of roles, whether it be a loving father figure in “The
Book Thief” or a super-villain in “Mystery Men”, but I think most
would agree that he’s never shined brighter then as the Pirate Captain
Barbossa. He just feels like a talent that was born to play a pirate, and he’s
consistently fun to watch as he chews up the scenery in this performance. The
only person who could match him is the equally larger than life portrayal of
Captain Jack Sparrow, who’s played masterfully by Johnny Depp. While the
portrayal got a little stale in follow-up sequels, as well as virtually every
other role Depp would play post Pirates, one still can’t forget just how
refreshing and new this performance was in the first film. It was one of those
special lightning in a bottle performances that took audiences by storm and
made a house hold name out of Johnny Depp. While he had a number of credible
roles beforehand ranging from “Ed Wood”, to “Sleepy Hollow”, to “Edward
Scissorhands”, I think most would agree the Jack Sparrow is his signature
career defining role. Depp respectfully received an Oscar nomination for best
actor, which is saying a lot considering that he’s portraying a quirky pirate … and that’s really not the kind of role that the Oscars would take note of, but in
this case they did. While the Jack Sparrow gimmicks overstayed their welcome in
future films, he’s still infectiously fun and charismatic in this first movie,
and along with “Indiana Jones”, this can be viewed as one of the great
iconic character performances of the adventure genera.
The
only other talents who deserve more credit are Klaus Badelt and his music producer
Hans Zimmer, for composing one of the all-time great adventure scores in this
movie. Hans Zimmer already had a hand in composing high-sea adventure music in “Muppets
Treasure Island”, so it’s no wonder he was brought on to help with the
score for “Pirates of the Caribbean”. There’s no question about it, this
music gets me hyped for adventure, and is one of the chief components to the
films overall fun factor.
The music also helps convey a sense of doom whenever the
villains are on the approach. Also, even though I wasn’t really invested in the
romantic parts of the picture, the score is absolutely breathtaking when it
plays as a romantic balled. I’m actually shocked that of all the films acolytes,
this music score didn’t get nominated at the Academy Awards. The film did however receive
four other respected Oscar nominations for best makeup, best sound design, best
sound mixing, and of course for best special effects … which I feel should have
won. While it’s competition “Return of the King” did admittedly have
some extraordinary effects on display, I feel it offered nothing as visually unique
as what “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” gave
us. Seeing these pirates walk in-and-out of the moon light, and transforming
into skeletons is one of the most aw-inspiring feats of special effects that
the decade had to offer. Still to this day, the transitions from man to skeleton
is seamless, and it still makes me wonder how they pulled it off.
The re-animated skeletons sailing boats
was only a minor detail on the ride, but I’m glad they put the focus on that, as
it made the movie feel more unique then straight-forward pirates pillaging towns.
On that note, for whatever it’s worth, when I was a little kid going on the
ride, it was the visuals of the Pirates raiding and pillaging that scared me more
then any of the supernatural elements, and the movie did a fine job replicating
those disturbing shots. We also have the rum-drinking man sleeping with the
pigs, and the crime ridden town of Tortuga. The iconic song is referenced in
passing, but I would have liked a full-on musical number of "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" during
the Tortuga segment. The most obvious nod to the ride comes in the form of the dog
holding the keys to a prison cell, which was cute at first, but I feel that
joke overstayed it’s welcome. There’s also a number of odd Disney branded references, including a random name-drop of “The Little Mermaid”, and another
character dressed as Captain Hook from “Peter Pan”. Still, despite all
the call backs to the ride and other Disney properties, the film still has its
own unique voice, and is more than capable to stand on its own.
What the film truly succeeds in is
providing the audience with a refreshing sense of escape, and helped breathe new
life into swashbuckling action and fun. I will admit that the film drags in spots, and the run time is a bit much, but the film still delivers the goods
that make me want to give it a repeat viewing. The action comes in a terrific
variety, and is spread out enough that we don’t feel exhausted when the next
exciting action-set-piece comes around.
Granted, there’s nothing subtle about
the action on display, but at least it’s not stupid, where as the sequels just
went too overboard with outlandish fights and implausible stunts. I feel this first
film struck the right balance with the fantastical, and kept the spectacle just
grounded enough. My favorite action sequence of the whole movie is Jack Sparrows
dual with Will Turner in the Black Smith shop, as it’s all in camera, and the appeal
comes from how the set-design is utilized with the swift sword fighting
choreography on display. I honestly think it’s the best staged sequence in the
film, as it goes from moving around these giant wooden gears, to balancing on a
cart, to leaping on the roof’s support beams, and it’s just a beautifully executed
sequence. The only feat of action I found underwhelming … of all things … was
actually the final duel. After all the exciting battles at sea, and thrilling
chases, the film comes to a close with kind of a small fight in a dark, damp and boring
cave. While the climax overall is great, with more awesome effects, and cool moments, the final showdown between Jack and Barbosa always felt kind of average to me, at least when compared to everything that proceeded it. Although, we do at least get a
very satisfying villain death, as Captain Sparrow uses the single bullet he’d
saved for his greatest enemy ... I just try to push the villain’s resurrection in
the sequels out of my mind.
While there were many sequels that followed,
I personally fond them all consistent one-and-done experiences. By that I mean,
each sequel gave me enough flash that made me glad a saw them once, but I’ve honesty
never had any interest in re-watching any of them. The first “Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” by contrast has absolutely held-up
over the years as a consistently re-watchable piece of entertainment, and it’s
still one of my favorites of adventure cinema. Truthfully, the first film is
all I really needed to get my fix of high-sailing adventures at sea with this
fantastic cast of memorable characters. The performances are larger than life,
the music riveting, the battles exciting, the effects eye-popping, and it
stands as a great reminder for Hollywood to take ambitious risks when coming up
with new ideas. If you feel that “Pirates of the Caribbean” lost it's flair due to an overabundance of sequels, I’d still encourage you to look back
at the first, as it still holds-up as a refreshing escape from what Hollywood
traditionally produces.
Thanks for reading my review of the 2003 adventure classic “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”
… and continue to enjoy the movies you love.
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