Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

When I first heard that there was going to be a film based on Disney World’s classic ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, teenage me had some doubts.  What kind of silly story could be told based on animatronic pirates who plunder, pillage, auction off women and sing?  But under the direction of Gore Verbinski, the film turned into a huge success that is still treading water with lackluster sequels thirteen years later.  

When a ruthless band of pirates invade Port Royal and kidnap the governor’s daughter, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the young blacksmith, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), tries to save her with the help of a recently arrested pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).  Jack isn’t really concerned with the rescue, but wants to get his ship, The Black Pearl, back from Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and his crew.  Throughout their swashbuckling adventure they get into hair raising situations, meet colorful characters, and discover a chilling curse lined with gold, greed and blood.  

Compared to most films under the Disney name, Pirates of the Caribbean has more twists, mystery, violence and scarier images than we are used to seeing from them.  The punishments for piracy are laid out in the beginning, showing handing, rotting corpses with a sign, “Pirates, ye be warned.”  There is a soft love triangle between Elizabeth, the recently promoted Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport), and the young pining blacksmith we’re all rooting for, Will.  Best of all, there is a curse over the crew of The Black Pearl (no surprise, given the title), where the moonlight reveals them as they truly are.  

Johnny Depp, clad in a tricorner hat, dreadlocks and messy eyeliner, portrays Captain Jack Sparrow in an Oscar nominated performance.  With his amazing entrance, sailing a sinking dinghy into Port Royal, he sets the tone for a new brand of pirate.  He saunters down the pier with a half drunk grace and casually offers three times the payment to dock his sunken boat with no name attached, then pockets a whole pouch of money.  While at first glance he seems to be a drunken fool and flying by the seat of his pants, he is actually quite crafty, always thinking ahead of Will, Elizabeth and Barbossa.  But mostly, we just wants his beloved ship, The Black Pearl, back.

My favorite scene is the first sword fight between Jack and Will.  Will finds Jack hiding in the blacksmithery and being the noble, upstanding citizen he is, plans to turn in the pirate, especially since he threatened dear Elizabeth.  What begins as a simple sword fight, quickly escalates.  Literally, into the ceiling rafters.  When one sword is lost, swatted away or broken, there are plenty others around, some red hot and tossing sparks when clanked.  When the donkey who runs the mill becomes spooked, he sets the whole workshop in motion.  Then, when a wagon acts like a catapult, the sword fight takes to the rafters.  It is wonderful how the danger and excitement increases every minute until Jack has to resort to more ruthless, pirate-like tactics.  

Pirates of the Caribbean is probably the best film inspired by an amusement park ride ever (please, let me know if I missed another gem in this small genre).  While it is a hard argument to call it the best pirate film ever, is is a great modern pirate film.  It’s got the swashbuckling, the rum, kidnappings, stealing, fun, adventure on the high seas and a bit the supernatural to thicken it all.  And with a total of five Oscar nominations, it earned respect from most critics.  If you haven’t already seen this fun, modern, grown up bit of Disney magic, I highly suggest you do.  

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.”

Rango

Back when the first trailers for Rango came out, I was instantly hooked.  That’s what happens when you mix Johnny Depp with a cartoon chameleon for me.  When I went to see it in theaters, I feared that the film would fall to my own hype.  What I saw exceeded all my expectations and left me with joyful excitement.  The film’s award for Best Animated Feature was well deserved, and I hope to see Gore Verbinski direct more animated films.

Rango is originally a pet chameleon so empty he doesn’t even have a name.  He spends his days putting on plays in his little world with the few companions in his terrarium.  Of course, he has given himself the role of the hero, but what is his motive?  He understands somewhat that he is a lonely shell of a character who needs to be put onto the path of an adventure.  And with that, an armadillo in the road sends him out of the car, into the desert and onto destiny.   His path is filled with becoming the new sheriff of Dirt, fighting off the town’s enemies and uncovering a mystery on where the town’s precious water has gone.

Now, chameleons are all about adapting and blending into their surroundings.  Rango is not exactly perfect at this, but we love to see him try.  There is a great moment where he mimics a few different people’s walks.  Once he meets Beans (Isla Fisher) and finds his way into Dirt, he seems to understand what an outsider he truly is.  He takes this moment to redefine himself, blend in, and become who he wants to be: the hero.

Visually, this film holds some of the greatest character animation I have ever seen.  We tend to think of cartoon animals in this fluffy, cute, glossed over style.  In Rango, all the critters of Dirt are full of gritty details.  I love how you can see ever scale, whisker and feather so vividly that you can imagine what they feel like, and none of them are fluffy.  Many of the critters have large, bulbous eyes that look so very real and full of intelligence.  Each of the voices, supplied by many well known stars, fits the look and personality of each character perfectly, I especially loved Abigail Breslin’s slightly deadpan rodent girl with the giant eyes.

I can see most older children (say, six and up) really enjoying Rango alongside adults, who will understand more jokes and classic references.  However, I can also see younger children being a little creeped out by some of the characters.  The combination of booming voice, sharp fangs and gun barrel tail on Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) can take grown ups aback for a moment.

What I really love about Rango is that the story has a good mix of action, mystery, comedy and wild west adventure.  There are many moments in the movie that harken back to classic films.  The plot has a bit of Chinatown mixed in, the Spirit of the West looks just like Clint Eastwood and many of the wild west details are straight out of other classic westerns.  And that mariachi band of owls who narrate and give Rango a heroic theme song are the perfect cherry on top.

“From out the dust, came a man true and bold, Champion of the fandango, By night he drank whiskey, by day killed bad man, And the townspeople knew him as Rango.”