I was disappointed. There were some really good set pieces, and Depp was Depp, but it just didn’t have the sense of fun that the first one did. Same thing with the action- you felt like they just wanted to top everything, and after a while it just got ridiculous, neither exciting nor fun. Made me dizzy, too. 
It also bothered me that the only humor seemed to be in the form of references to the first movie.
I liked it but agree it wasn’t as good as the first. It was a bit more cartoony and over the top than the first. The fight scenes were very well done but went on too long and were a little bit too unbelievable. (the big water wheel sequence in particular) But, I think they’ve set it up to create a really great third film which will totally redeem this one.
Oh, and I just have to add that Johnny Depp was certainly swishy in this one, wasn’t he? In the first one, he had eccentricities but this performance seemed to be all about the foppishness. Even his run was swishy.
I hope the third one is good, but even if it is, that wouldn’t make this one better. I don’t think it works that way. It’s interesting to hear this compared to Star Wars and Back to the Future. After Dead Man’s Chest, I thought of the Matrix franchise: it was fun once, but not nearly good enough for three movies. DMC was better than The Matrix: Reloaded, but it’s the same idea.
So, basicly its a commercial. How much ya spent so far? 
The family and I saw it tonight and we all enjoyed it immensely, except for my 3 year old daughter, who fell asleep. 
Seriously though, I thought it was well done, although I did very much have the “middle movie” vibe coming through it. I don’t know what the complaints are all about…outlandish stunts? Did you even WATCH the first movie???
As a tie-in with the movie series, the classic “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride has been revamped at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Two new animatronic figures have been added, as Captain Barbossa searches for Jack Sparrow.
I loved it! The action sequences were great. I expected them to be over-the-top and I thought the whole island sequence (beginning with the swordfight in the ruins, continuing with the water wheel, and ending with the three-way duel on the beach) was tremendously fun. Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to see. These movies aren’t supposed to realistic, people!
The special effects were awesome. Davy Jones was incredible, and the look of his crew was very cool. I was glad they didn’t just reuse skeleton pirates.
My only complaint is that, as Marley23, pointed out, much of the humor just references the first movie. Ok, pirates like rum, we get it. Keep Elizabeth away from the rum, alright, alright, let’s move on.
Best big movie of the summer for me, though. It pushed all the right buttons. I wish Superman had been half as fun as this.
Yeah, more than once. :rolleyes: Even in fiction, there are degrees of ridiculousness. Maybe the problem wasn’t the fight in the waterwheel itself (to pick one example), it was that the fight in the waterwheel went on for so damn long. I can admire the choreography of a sequence like that, but after several minutes I have no response left but “oh, come on.” Jack’s escape from the cannibals was great, but other times it was too much of too much.
Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please.
Then apparently you’ve forgotten the outlandish action sequences in it.
Yes…there was that ONE line. And then they moved on.
Stupid single lines! Going on and on and keeping us from moving on!
-Joe
I liked it a lot. However, I thought the entire sequence on the island with the cannibals served absolutely no purpose, went on too long, wasn’t particularly entertaining, and should have been cut. They could easily have found some other, more interesting way to reunite Will and Jack and to bring those other two pirates on board.
And you apparently didn’t read past the first line in the post you quoted. Outlandish stunts are all well but they can be too common or last too long and then quickly become boring or obnoxious, much like Dead Man’s Chest. I loved Curse of the Black Pearl but this sequel fell flat and even though I really quite enjoyed portions of it, the vast majority bored me due, in part, to scenes just *not *ending.
“Why is the rum always gone?” + “It’s Elizabeth! Hide the rum!” and I remember at least two more, because I was severely irritated with them. 
Plus “You will always remember this as the day you almost…” and “…and then they made him their chief!”, and those were far from the only two as well.
The problem I had with the in-jokey self-references like that is that they aren’t funny in their own right, only as a reference to that time they were funny before. They’re dependent on the first movie, tapping its humor instead of creating new humor.
“My eyesight’s as good as ever, by the way” was one of the best jokes in “Dead Man’s Chest”: it was in-character but not self-referential. The self-awareness of this movie as part of a cultural phenomenon was the biggest thing dragging it down.
I liked it for the most part, but it needed to stop thinking about itself and get on with it.
Oh, there was definitely more than one line about the rum.
There was also the bit about the pirates being reluctant to load the rum barrels into the net along with the gunpowder to try to drive off the Kraken.
Yes! Unfortunately, I think it whooshed by many of the people in the theater I was in, but it got a loud laugh from me.
Meh. At times amusing (I did enjoy Bill Nighy as Davy Jones–spent half the movie trying to figure out why the face under the make-up looked so familiar), but mostly it dragged. And dragged. And… well, you know. Looks like they’re following the failure of the Back to the Future trilogy in that the sequels are pretty bad. Not outright horrible, just mostly devoid of the fun of the first with an attempt to outdo the first one. (The Mummy sequel failed in the same way.)
Well, kinda; I mean, they eventually used that as the jumping point for the sequel, but it was first written as a throwaway joke at the end of the first movie–sequels were not originally planned.
I do have a question, though:
The dice game that Will played to find the key… what were the rules? Auntie Em and I tried to catch on, but I’m afraid we missed something. It looked like they were guessing how the dice would turn up under each cup, but we were thrown off by the end when Bootstrap Bill was accused of being a liar and Will, who had just lost, now had his soul back. How is the game played, and what happened?
I disagree with your opinion of the length of the stunts.
I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Yes, there were LOTS of references to the first film:
-the CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow line
-the rum being gone jokes
-Elizabeth and the rum line
-the wench on Tortuga who slaps Will as a message to be delivered to Jack
-the governor looking for “that dog with the keys”
-the prisonners trying to lure Elizabeth through the bars (in the first movie, it was the dog)
-Elizabeth fainting on the beach while the men keep on fighting
-the “you’ll remember this as the day…” joke
… And there’s plenty more.
I had a blast. My service dog, Pirate, slept through the movie. Go figure.
saw it last night. Can’t say I loved it like I did the first one, but I enjoyed myself & will probably see it again in the theatres before it’s run is over. It’s too long, and too self-referencing with jokes to the first one.
But Capt. Jack is certainly back!, there were many new funny bits too(“I brought you an undead monkey!”), and the music and visuals were super.
One question I hope one of you all can answer: How/when did Norrington get Davy Jones’ heart?