Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Bruckheimer -– always eager to egg on the public’s thirst for bigger, louder, stupider –- has done a scandalous amount of damage to contemporary cinema, but for once, his dubious talent for big-buck bombast is exploited for good rather than evil. More

Pirates offers something for everyone: Bloom and Depp for the ladies, big action and Knightley for the men, self-aware gags for the postmodern crowd, Depp and Rush for fans of top-rank scenery chewing. More

A film that dares to be smart, reasonably complicated and scary while swashing its buckles. More

This typically bloated production from Jerry Bruckheimer is good swashbuckling fun for the first few reels but eventually slows to a halt under the weight of too many doubloons. More

It's a good thing that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp are on hand to jack up the acting department. Their characters, two world-class goofballs, keep us interested even during entirely pointless swordfights. More

At least the movie Pirates of the Caribbean is fun -- but only as long as you don't expect much. Take it from me: The ride is better. More

My main complaint -- there's too much emphasis on action -- will strike the film's young target audience as a see-worthy virtue rather than a fault. More

I love it, but much in the way I managed to love The Phantom Menace -- in spite of its bloat, swaggering self-importance and largely neutered characters. More

There may be nothing more fun for actors than experimental exaggeration, especially when filming on a Caribbean island. But there’s nothing that makes an audience feel less welcome than not being in on the joke. More

An exciting time at the movies, where you don’t smell something burning and realize it’s your brain cells dying off. During the summer movie season, that’s rather hard to avoid. But this movie has avoided it and it’s time well spent. More

Puts itself at the top of the list as one of the most entertaining swashbucklers to hit the big screen. More

The booty here is 100 percent fool's gold. More

This noisy retread, a secondhand facsimile of a movie, is, except for the headache its boisterous sound level leaves you with, as forgettable as a bad day in the Disneyland parking lot. More

A rollicking, jumbo-sized swashbuckler, awash in sword fights, cursed treasures, plank walkings and hurtling cannonballs. This stylish, rousing movie has been directed with refreshing levity and wit. More

Fortunately, whenever the movie starts to sag, Depp flies to the rescue. It’s a truly piratical performance: with his flamboyantly fluttering fingers he steals every scene in the movie. More

Letting any other actor run wild like this could have been a disaster, but Depp's peculiar buccaneer is an instant classic of actorly charisma. More

The law of commerce worked this time around: One terrific thrill ride has begotten another. More

Trimming half an hour from this bloated, 143-minute blockbuster would have highlighted the film's treasures, not the least of which is Johnny Depp's endearingly eccentric performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. More

The dazzling, high-flying silliness is quite an achievement. The movie is better than it deserves to be, given its origins: a ride at Disneyland and Disney World. More

An improbably entertaining, if overlong, adventure that brings new meaning to the term summer camp. Doubloons! Ripped bodices! Unbuckled swash! Rum galore! More

Flawed though it may be, it's frequently an unaffected pleasure, in no small part because of Depp but also because of a raffish air that's a welcome respite from the heavy going of The Matrix Reloaded, The Hulk and other behemoths. More

Children of all ages: Brace yourselves for a helluva ride. More

Oozes atmosphere. The humor keeps it from becoming too creepy, but there are still a few chills to be had. More

Depp swans through this swashbuckler with a scene-stealing gusto unseen since Marlon Brando in Mutiny on the Bounty. He's comic dynamite, but this plodding, repetitive bore should walk the plank for timidly refusing to light his fuse. More

When Pirates of the Caribbean is good, it's certainly something to behold. More

Verbinski puts a Jackie Chan flourish of high energy and gymnastic action on the swashbuckling stunts and swordplay and keeps this lark sailing along. More

Eventually the concept buckles under the heavy blockbuster treatment, becoming a monotonous, repetitive spectacle of endless shipboard sword fights and pirate ghosts in the moonlight. More

Pirates is OK, in patches even better. More

The movie blows, me hearties, but don't you dare miss it...Why? Johnny Depp, that's why...This has gotta rank among the weirdest performances in the zany annals of the silver screen. More

The large cast, costumed and made up as filthy scalawags and sinister buccaneers, gives tremendous energy to every scene. More

Verbinski knows when to break out the stunning action sequences and when to let his characters dominate the film, and he handles both modes expertly. More

This is an original work in an antique mood. The actors and authors all have fun with the genre without making fun of it. Rather, they revive it. More

Director Gore Verbiniski delivers the best one can hope for: a cleverly nostalgic, high-tech copy of the real deal. More

Finally, there's a big-budget popcorn movie that delivers what moviegoers hunger for: humor, action, thrills and charismatic characters. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the summer blockbuster we've been waiting for. More

The picture's constant forward movement and breezy sense of amusement about itself provide a certain mild sort of diversion. More

Convoluted but diverting. More

Not enough to keep this celluloid ship from sinking under the weight of its own stupidity. More

Pirates of the Caribbean moves easily from sunny 18th-century seafaring adventure to creepy zombie flick and back again. More