Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was surprisingly good. So of course they’re going to make a sequel and turn everything up to 11. More Johnny Depp (yay)! More love triangles (boo)! More supernatural beasties (awesome)! More mythology (sweet)!

On the plus side, there’s a lot to like. As mentioned Depp is still great. That’s probably the number one reasons these movies are as awesome as they are. He just nails the roll.

Jack Sparrow: [holds up jar of dirt] Oi! Fishface! Lose something? Eh? Scungilli!

[falls down stairs, holds up jar again]

Jack Sparrow: Got it! Come to negotiate, eh? Have you, you slimy git? Look what I got.

Jack Sparrow: [sing-song] I got a jar of dirt, I got a jar of dirt, and guess what’s inside it!

My new favorite though has to be Bill Nighy as Davy Jones. He’s on the shortlist of actors that absolutely pour heart and soul into terrific villains–and he does so here. I love Davy Jones in this with his crew of sea turned beasties. It’s great world building and great costume design as well. At least in my opinion, they did a great job on the CGI as well, even with the close up shots. Perhaps it helps that he’s supposed to look slimy and alien. :D

A few other thoughts:

• Expanding on Jack’s compass works. It fits and explains why it did what it did.
• The native tribe that worships Jack is… questionable, but it fits Jack at least.
• The entire island scene, with the beach argument and the battle on a waterwheel is just so absolutely bonkers… that it works well. it’s the sort of thing that makes theses movies shine.

Overall, it takes what made Pirates great and does just a bit more. I don’t think it works without the world established in the first, bit with that it’s wonderful.