Pirates of the Carribean 2 was Disappointing

I saw it yesterday. While I won't say it was bad, but the first 1/2 of the movie left me a bit cold. It was dark, not as focused (or sharp as the original), and lacked the energy that made the first so much fun. The jokes left me cold for the most part and it ultimately just wasn't much fun (not want you want at all from a Summer movie).

All the humor and charm of Pirates-1 was replaced with high-tech costumes for Davy Jones and his crew. Big dissapointment.

But my wife and kids were with me so I sat through the whole miserable, plotless, pointless movie. You could have left the theater at almost any point in the movie and returned half an hour later to discover that you hadn't missed anything.

It was so far beyond disappointing that there are no words to describe it's awfullness.




Chris

thought it was as good if not better than the original..

:shrug:

also, Keira Knightly is a fine piece of eye candy, and even though I'm a straight guy, I can't help but say Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom are good lookin' too.

Not a good sign when I have an urge to look at my watch about half-way through. And I thought Depp's character was a bit too silly in this one.

Sequels are usually flat because the characters aren't fresh. The charm of the original film is getting to know everyone, but during the sequel everyone is known. Directors try to introduce more characters with the same type of charm as the first batch, but that comes across as formulaic, and soon you get bogged down in too many characters to care about and you miss the first batch of characters, who have less screen time.

PoC 2 kept the focus on the same main characters, but showed different sides of them through different relationships (Elizabeth with Jack instead of Will being the focus), by changing other characters (Norrington), and by focusing on characters you barely got to know in the first one (the two goofy pirates).

It lost some of the coziness of the first one by not giving a window into the bad guys. You never saw Davie Jones as a person the way you saw Barbossa, and Jones's crew was completely identity-less, unlike Barbossa's crew. They did substitute some effects and choreography for character development.

Overall, though I loved it. A little less magical than the first. I kept comparing it to the two great sequel films of Empire Strikes Back, and Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom. Not as good as Empire, not as flat as Temple, I thought. Many similarities of plot and character archetypes to Empire, from the Princess, to the rogue pirate who captures her attention, to the innocent young hero who had her attention for the first film. Even the surprise appearance of the hero's father. Black Pearl = Millenium Falcon, Davie Jones= Darth Vader, with mysterious powers that control the universe around them. East India Tea Company = the Empire hunting down the hero. Not exact parallels, but echoes.

Like anyone cares what I think! Pshewww. I need a hobby. :)

My thoughts pretty much echo your own.

I also had the ESB comparison thought.

I checked my watch at one point and found out I was only 45 minutes into the movie. Still almost two excruciating hours left!

I wanted to like it. I really did. But gawd...

to seeing it more, now that I know who likes it and who hates it.

You guys rock.

I couldn't care less about plot points, focus, or message- it was worth the price to watch that slapstick run across the screen background by Depp. And that three-way sword fight was perfectly choreographed!

All the monster-related special effects were over-the-top NASTY. The scary parts weren't "fun" scary. They were "bad LSD trip" scary. Just...super-gross.

He can't follow the plot of just any ol movie. Now I don't know what to do.

:(

sea and some of the editing, but that woman with the black teeth and oil looking lips was gross. It was just a weird movie. I actually wanted to look at my watch as well, I was getting tired of it and hoping for it to end. That damn face in the wall scared me, I hate that stupid shit. The gross sneeze from Davy Jones on Capt. Jack was gross. I just thought it was very simple and boring. It was entertaining on a very simplistic level but nothing like the first. I did think the dialog for Jack Sparrow was rather funny when he would correct English. I thought that was funny.

I hated it.

Good CG if you are into that. Some funny bits of dialogue. Swordfighting scene (wheel) was good. 1st 1/2 hour was spent showing the characters, and seemed very unfocused. Too much CG if you get tired of it (sort of like Matrix 2, quite showing you can show slow bullets already and get on with it). It was ok, popcorn was good. Why could they shoot the monkey and it wouldn't die, but the humans could after becoming live again?

Why could they shoot the monkey and it wouldn't die

They had POTC 1 on last nite and there is a scene after the end of the movie that explains alot. The monkey picks up a piece of gold out of the cursed chest ;)

why does it only affect the monkey? Is it because the whole group of them had stolen the money before, so had the curse on them and this time it is only a monkey? Or is it because it is only a movie?

I went into it knowing it would end on a cliffhanger, which made the first parts of the movie more acceptable to me. Had that been a fully self-contained story, I would agree the first 1/2 was a bit disappointing. As it was, I thought it was necessary to flesh out more of what the fully story actually is.

If one can't handle the fact you're going to have to wait for the final installment to get the most out of it, then this movie might leave you a bit cold. I understand that feeling but don't agree with it. A lot of my favorite movies ended in such a way. Star Wars: ESB and the first two LotR movies, for example.

:D

:hi:

I laughed alot, especially at Depp and his physical comedy. The

I liked the score. The CGI were pretty weak, compared to the LOTR trilogy.

Bill Nighy was terrific as Davy Jones. Orlando Bloom...while nice to look at, is becoming extremely annoying with his breathy voice and really bad acting.

All in all, the theatre was packed and people were really having fun.

Two thumbs up!

:D I want to see it again