"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

What lies below may include "spoilers" that those who have not seen this may wish to avoid. Read at your own risk.

I waited a couple of days since seeing “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” before writing this. I’ve been trying to work out how to say what I think about the movie. I’ll start with the basics and work from there and see how it goes.

This movie exists to setup the third film which will be out to next summer. It is a 2 ½ hour setup. It is often very enjoyable and has flashes of what made the first “Pirates” such a wonderful summer surprise. Please, don’t tell me you really thought a movie based on an old Disneyland ride would be good. There was magic in that movie. This one has too little fairy dust and leaves you wondering if they’ve saved it up for the next one.

The movie starts as if it is a straightforward tale. The new bad guys representing the East India Company (how many will get that reference) want Captain Jack Sparrow’s compass for some nefarious reason and have arrested Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann on their wedding day to force Will to go after Jack for them. Well into the movie, you get our two comic characters, the no longer immortal Pintel and Ragetti (you’ll recognize them when you see them), giving a 20 second run down of all the various subplots that have been twisting around. It’s a funny bit, but makes your realize how you were fooled by the opening plot. The last 20 minutes or so are the fun carnival ride that you were waiting for since you heard that this sequel was being made. What you have to be willing to accept is that nothing will be resolved. As I said, it’s all to setup next summer’s third movie. Few movies can pull this off. The one that sticks in my head that really worked was “Empire Strikes Back.” That movie also setup up the third film, but there was so much good stuff in it that stood on its own you were left only wanting more and happy to pay again and again to try to see what clues George Lucas may have snuck in to decipher.

This movie isn’t in that league. Not that it’s bad. It’s a decent movie. On my scale, I’d say it’s a matinee price movie. Here’s my full scale from best to worst with recent examples so you can see my movie taste:
Best: full price movie that I’ll see again and buy the DVD [Superman Returns; V for Vendetta; United 93]
Good but not great: full price movie, but now I’ve seen it and I’ll move on [Thank You for Smoking; Cars; Over the Hedge]
Good: worth the price of a matinee admission [Chicken Little; X-Men 3]
Fair: worth the price of the 2^nd run theater admission [The Devil Wears Prada]
Bad: I wish/glad I waited for this to run on HBO or to be $1.88 one week rental [Sky High]
Horrible: Must find something worthwhile to do to make up for the time from my life that this movie took from me [Not that I saw this, but “Doogal” would qualify]

In conclusion (pardon the academic transition habit), if you liked the first “Pirates” movie and think you’re likely to see the next one, go see it during a summer matinee. Or, if you prefer, rent it about a week before you see the third one next summer and hope they did save some fairy dust for next year.