Not since Errol Flynn came swinging from the yard-arm has there been another to fill his swash-bucking boots. Not until this years Disney epic, Pirates of the Caribbean. Based on the theme park ride of the same name, Captain Jack Sparrow launches onto the big screen in a blaze of yo-ho-hos and the occasional bottle of rum.
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Main cast
Johnny Depp .... Jack Sparrow
Geoffrey Rush .... Barbossa
Orlando Bloom .... Will Turner
Keira Knightley .... Elizabeth Swann
Jack Davenport .... Norrington
Jonathan Pryce .... Governor Weatherby Swann

The plot for this movie is intricate. Set on a Royal Navy flagship in the opening frames, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) catches a glimpse of the ghostly Black Pearl (a pirate ship) sailing into the mist. Glancing over the side of the ship, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is spotted floating on some driftwood having escaped what appears to have been a pirate attack on merchant shipping. Will turns out to be the son of the infamous “Boot strap Bill”, a notorious pirate who happened to be a bloody decent chap at the same time. However, this rather incriminating background is covered up by a sleight of hand from Swann who spirits the give-away pirate symbol being a gold medallion hanging around the stricken boy’s neck.

Drawing on scenes straight from the high points of the theme park ride itself, the attack is drawn to a premature halt by the claim for parle (an accepted Pirate code of conduct or something like that) by the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann. Playing her ace card, she threatens to hurl the gold medallion from earlier in the story over the side and into Davey Jones’ Locker unless the raping and pillaging is stopped (well the raping is inferred although this is Disney don’t forget). Unfortunately for this damsel, she forgets to claim safe passage back to the port and is swept away on the Black Pearl’s latest adventure. With the lovelorn, Turner in tandem with a grateful Sparrow (who has been sprung from his gaol by the dynamic Turner), the ghostly speeding galleon of the film title is hotly pursued by the unlikely pairing with them in turn being chased by most of the Royal Navy!

Johnny Depp has traversed what seems like a million years since his first big break in the US TV series “21 Jump Street”. Playing a youthful cop, Depp says he hated every minute of his 4 years of involvement. A career that has largely taken on dysfunctional roles including the razor fingered fantasy figure in "Edward Scissor Hands", the emotive lead, Gilbert Grape in "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape" and the opium inspired Edward Abilene trying solve the Ripper murders in “From Hell” shows a real penchant for characters straight out of left field. Happily settled in France with the singer Vanessa Paradis, Depp now eschews the Hollywood existence for a lower profile lifestyle. The pirate creation of Jack Sparrow is another worthy addition to Depp’s string of curios. With a slur and a backwards sway, this particular pirate is more reminiscent of Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones with that image simply compounded further by the thick eye-liner and camp one-liners. There’s no doubt that Depp has a ball in the leading role, keeping a smile on the audiences’ faces throughout.

The rest of the cast play along to Depp’s tune. Keira Knightly is suitably vulnerable most of the time in the best traditions of the sassy, captive maiden in distress although she is thrown some wonderful settings to spar with the main characters. No expense spared in either special effects or film location (St Vincent and the Grenadines, no less) propels the movie into Blockbuster territory even if it has that comfortably inoffensive feel that Disney would want from a more adult offering.

Pirates of the Caribbean is chock full of great scenes with a pace engineered to take you on an emotional theme park road whilst never really taking things seriously. In previously explored ground including Treasure Island, this is a movie that simply brings out the ham in the players but in an entertaining way as opposed to anything more mundane.