It�s time ladies and gentlemen for the next installment of Sara�s Movie Review Hut (Maybe I should nickname it, �The Hut��no that�s Pizza Hut�) -- ABCra XYZee

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Date Posted: 20:57:25 07/17/06 Mon
Author: Sara
Subject:

It�s time ladies and gentlemen for the next installment of Sara�s Movie Review Hut (Maybe I should nickname it, �The Hut��no that�s Pizza Hut�)

Anyway, welcome to the highly anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean 2 edition!!!

This past weekend, I went to see the latest installment in the Pirates franchise, Dead Man�s Chest. Unfortunately, the theater I saw it in was�well let�s be frank, it was a hole alright; the audio was terrible. I have pretty good hearing and I had trouble picking out some of the heavily accented dialogue. I have a feeling I lost some of the best lines due to the fact I was still trying to decipher what was said in the previous banter. Ah, the joys of living in the boondocks huh? I hope that it doesn�t skew my view of the movie too greatly�At least I didn�t have another Harry Potter episode with a guy and his mohawk sitting in front of me. ~grumble grumble~

Here�s the quickie synopsis:

In this sequel to the hit blockbuster Curse of the Black Pearl, we find Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and a whole slew of familiar faces return to take on a frightening Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and his monstrous crew straight out of Jacque Cousteau�s aquatic life. (A ship manned by a crew of cursed pirates�does this sound familiar at all?)

Captain Sparrow must either repay his life-debt to the legendary cutthroat or be forced to labor for all eternity as a dolphin or something aboard Jones�s ship. Hot on his heels are Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) whose lives depend on retrieving the compass of Sparrow in exchange for freedom from the death sentence for helping Sparrow escape at the end of Movie #1. Whew! That was quite a mouthful.

And now what you�ve all been patiently waiting for! My take:

I thought Pirates 2 was entertaining enough, yet not quite up to par with the first installment. In some ways, it seemed a lot like the same plot (see: above summary); Cursed, immortal pirates on a cursed ship need to be stopped before they kill the main characters and anyone else in their path. Wasn�t that pretty much Barbossa and his crew of undead pirates in Movie 1? Only this time instead of a trunk full of gold pieces we are looking for a chest with a still-beating human heart in it. Which leads me to my next gripe with the movie�

It seems like the studio fell into the greed trap while making this movie. Their goal is to squeeze every last cent out of the franchise as they can, so why not make it a trilogy instead of a single movie? Trilogies always seem to do well, right? (But based on the box office numbers I�m sure they are laughing all the way to the bank) There are times during the movie where I feel that I felt the writers were stretching the plotline a little too much, and some of it was patchy and quickly done with just the right amount of special effects to make it a blockbuster. Without giving too much away, when you start bringing back characters who supposedly die in the previous movie, it makes it feel almost soap opera-ish when they show up in the new movie with no explanation whatsoever. It�s hard to explain, but there just didn�t seem to be as much plot substance in this movie compared to the first.

Dead Man�s Chest made it painfully obvious that there was originally only one movie intended. The first movie had such a tightly woven plotline and well thought out story that it makes this sequel pale in comparison. To me it almost has the feel of a transitional movie; we have a little plotline thrown in for good measure, but mostly it�s the perfect engine for loosening all the perfectly tied down plotlines from the first movie, and setting the scene for the last.

The movie wasn�t bad by any means. I think Johnny Depp has truly found the role he was meant to play. He is perfect as the smarmy, but occasionally heroic, Captain Jack Sparrow and I can�t picture anyone else in the role. Unless he is in the third, I won�t bother to see it. It�s also an action movie that doesn�t take itself too seriously. There is just the right amount of humor interjected to give everyone in the audience what they want. It was truly an escape from the ordinary which is what a movie should be anyway right? In that respect I think the movie was a great success.

Don�t get me wrong, the movie wasn�t bad at all. I really did get a kick out of it. I just think it wasn�t as good as it could have been given the same time and consideration as its predecessor. Hopefully, the pirates still have enough in them to punch up the final episode and bring the series home in true pirate fashion. Overall, I give the movie 7.5/10 iced teas with funky little umbrellas in them.

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Gosh, Dorothy, that was quite the mouthful! You must have been saving up! LOL! Anyway, believe it or NOT, "I" saw this movie, too! Yes! Hubby and I ACTUALLY snuck away for a few hours! Anyway, I agree. It was fun, but not as fun as the first movie and I wasn't thrilled w/ the ending. ALso Kiera ... whatever her name ... looked... different. I don' tknow... Maybe it wasjust the outfits she was in. SHe just REALLY looked different to me. Of course, it's been a few years so DAR DE DAR.. maybe she's just OLDER! LOL! Anyway, all in all a fun movie. We're hoping to go see the new M. Light Shamalalalallamanananlll whatever -- Luoodles.... oh... and you know what you do w/ Mohawks, don't you???? That's what they sell those little safey scissors for! Snip! Snip!, 20:48:56 07/22/06 Sat [1]

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[> [> continued from above. C! you need to make the subject and name lines LONGER! How can you expect LU to POST!!! Oh. ~cough~ Well.. anyway... conitinuing... his name is move. Lady in the Water. I'm not sure if this is a good idea as generally I must watch movies like this with a pillow over my face and one eye peeking out. LOL! -- Luoodles needs to back AWAY from the DIET COKES. Can you say CAFFIENE????, 20:50:49 07/22/06 Sat [1]

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