Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black

It's always my first stop at the Magic Kingdom. Past the path to Space Mountain, bypassing the Haunted Mansion, and not even stopping to mourn the loss of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nope. I'm not in Disney World until I'm sitting in that flat-bottomed boat and launching into the murky, magical world of the Pirates of the Caribbean.

After the disaster that was "The Country Bears," who would have thought that Disney's second of three attraction adaptations would be as rollicking and fun as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl?" There's romance, gorgeous scenery, colorful costumes, and Johnny Depp as the Caribbean's first drag queen pirate.

The film really does belong to Depp's sun-deranged Captain Jack Sparrow and his nemesis and former first mate Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Both chew scenery with the best, to the detriment of our heroes, blacksmith turned buccaneer Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and the object of his affections, Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of the town governor (Jonathan Pryce), engaged to the upstanding naval hero, Commodore (Jack Davenport).

The plot involves an attempt by Jack and Will, as reluctant allies, to rescue both Elizabeth and Jack's former command, the pirate ship known as The Black Pearl. The Pearl and her mutinous crew have been cursed by an ill-begotten booty of Spanish gold, and the men are all undead skeletons by the light of the moon.

There are some remarkable effects sequences in abundance as the crew morphs from humanoid to skeletal, often intermittently, while exposed to the moonlight. And since the bad guys are essentially bloodless, so is the movie, making it more palatable for older members of the family.

The famous attraction is well feted by the film, most memorably by the sight of three pirates attempting to lure a key-bearing dog with a large bone. Images from the Disney ride are everywhere, but never steal the spotlight away from the story.

I do have a faint criticism. The film isn't as tightly paced as "T3." After a while, the swashbuckling derring-do gets a wee bit old, especially when you consider that the Pearl pirates can't be killed. What's the point! This four-star movie would have been five stars had it been about a half hour lighter.

It is indeed a minor quibble. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is just about as fun as my Disney World favorite, and Johnny Depp emerges yet again as an engaging and versatile actor. He and his supporting cast are having the times of their lives, and it's nice of them to, if you'll pardon the expression, to take us along for the ride.

By Bill Wilson