Pirates of the Caribbean was a massive risk for Disney when it was initially pitched. During a time when Disney was slowly losing its footing with its 2D animation company and wasn’t producing anything that striking anymore, releasing a movie based around a ride at their own theme park wasn’t something that gave people a lot of confidence, especially after the previous theatrical examples based on Disney World rides (Mission to Mars, in 2000 and The Country Bears, in 2002) were critically panned upon release. Most audience members were not very impressed with the advertising for the film and though that a film based around a goofy pirate attraction didn’t warrant celebrating, but that was quickly tarnished the moment the movie was released and left everybody flabbergasted at how it didn’t actually suck. In the 1700s when pirates roamed the seas and governors ruled the land, pirate captain Jack Sparrow (played infamously by Johnny Depp) lands in the shores of Port Royal where he is quickly found and captured after saving the life of Elizabeth Swan (played by Keira Knightly), the daughter of Governor Swan (played by Jonathan Pryce) who is against her fascination with pirates and wishes her to marry Commodore Norrington (played by Jack Davenport). Out of nowhere, a band of cursed pirates captained by Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) kidnap Elizabeth after mistaking her for a relative of the man who can lift a curse laid on them through Aztec treasure that has left them undead and unable to experience pleasure or feel anything.  The real relative of the pirate they’re looking for, Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom) convinces Jack to help him rescue Elizabeth, and the two sail to find the cursed Black Pearl before the pirates discover the truth and kill her. With an idea that a lot of people (even the people working on it) weren’t fully convinced by, Pirates of the Caribbean surprised everybody with its swashbuckling high-energy presence which made it leap off the screen in a way the ride never even thought it could achieve. While certainly goofy in its own right and not handling of all its elements perfectly, it does better than you’d expect.

The film started its production in the 90s and despite some voices of chagrin from the higher ups in Disney (mainly former chairman Michael Eisner who attempted to shut down production), the film’s crew clearly had a lot of love for the ride, pirates in general and the kind of swashbuckling type of movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood that this movie is trying to mirror. While this one clearly has more of a quirky off-kilter energy to its humor and pacing thanks to the direction from Gore Verbinski who is a well-known oddball when it comes to his filmmaking, this style of movie feels very in line with a more classic swashbuckling film which would feature someone like Burt Lancaster or Errol Flynn. The key to how it managed to win people over with its premise and energy came through the crew and cast’s care into making this ridiculous concept work as this goofy fun movie, and how it presents this tale of pirates in a manner that while definitely silly, is also honest and genuine in its portrayal. The movie’s main driving point was something that needed to be created from scratch as the ride doesn’t have too much to go off of, but it’s a plot created by Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert that is very bare-bones and easy to understand, so people can go along for the ride and not have to worry about anything that deep or interesting (which is ironically what the films would later become). When movies like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix were coming out (movies that were trying to be grand and have deeper meanings to them), it was nice to see a blockbuster that was looking to entertain on a basic level above anything else. It does unfortunately have pieces that can be a little bland and generic (nobody cares about the governor’s handling of pirate affairs) and this is something the sequels would fall prey to by going too complicated and too dramatic for something that can really only work in its lovably dense environment, but it’s also impressive how well the story is told from a script level, as the screenplay by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio manages to deliver a lot of information regarding character, motivation and narrative direction pretty effectively and at a good pace that matches the style and tone of the film. It knows how to make it fun, not take itself too seriously, and when to rush through those moments that would otherwise drag the movie out even longer. While its length is still pretty big all things considered (being roughly two hours), it’s nowhere near as distracting as it would soon become.

With a story this generically enjoyable and an atmosphere so delightfully insane, it needs to find some characters to bounce this environment off of and it would have to be brand new characters to introduce as the ride didn’t have too many personalities to give actual faces too. While names like Jack Sparrow and Barbossa were associated with the ride, it would need something a bit more to flesh it out and the film did manage to do this pretty well with its lead and its villain. Jack Sparrow probably wouldn’t have become nearly as popular as he would have if Johnny Depp hadn’t performed as him in this movie. From casting choices, it seems like they kept getting confused on whether to play Jack Sparrow as a straight pirate (with options like Cary Elwes, Matthew McConaughey, and Hugh Jackman) or one that’s meant for sole comedy (with options like Jim Carrey, Christopher Walken, Michael Keaton, etc). Jack Sparrow as this bumbling half-drunk half insane pirate portrayal that give off an almost eccentric rock star vibe (Depp said he played him like Keith Richards because pirates were the rock stars of this era) was pretty different at the time and with Depp’s energy lending more to it than probably conceived, it made him a good face for the franchise and was a character that was funny, but mysterious and jagged enough that would make people want to see him in other movies. Geoffrey Rush is also great as the Barbarossa; providing a character with no real depth, but with plenty of joyful hooky villainy that makes him pretty entertaining as a foil for someone like Sparrow. The rest of the cast aren’t as memorable or as strong unfortunately. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly are pretty dull in this movie, playing generic roles with little to no personality and really only seem to exist as tools for the story rather to exist as memorable faces later down the line. Between the two, Knightly as Elizabeth isn’t too bad as she’s at least given a sense of wit and intelligence that makes her engage enough to not want to see her die, but Will for the most part, has pretty much nothing to offer. They do at least serve their purpose within the film and the two are given a few moments of light comedy throughout where they aren’t too bad, but future movies would show how minimal their roles really were.  The side characters on both the good and bad side are at best forgettable background roles and at worst annoying comic relief which only serve to slow the film down.

In a time when CGI was pretty rampant, especially in action movies, it was nice to see not only a movie that relied mostly on practically sets, locations and stunts, but one where the CG played almost no part in the overall film. Even when its utilized, it’s used where it should be used (making the skeleton pirates look more otherworldly) and it never overshadows the rest of the movie’s physical nature. One of the key things the film would’ve had to do to capture a similar feel to those swashbuckling movies of old would be to feature real stunts and the movie does have a fair amount of good physical comedy (anytime someone falls off the cliff-side is pretty good) and most of the fighting is pretty good as well. It doesn’t have many variety, unique aspects or even aggression to its swordplay to make it more interesting, but it’s still well done with quick blows and movements to make it good enough for this type of movie, even the ship battle near the end isn’t too bad. The movie isn’t an incredibly vibrant movie, but it also isn’t lacking in color either with a production design by Brian Morris, set decoration by Larry Dias and Cristian Bertocco, and costume design by Penny Rose that matches the 16th century Victorian aesthetic while also providing a sense of grainy spookiness as well. It has plenty of dark shadows and gloomy lighting to work in the ghostly spooky moments, but there’s still plenty of bright and dimly coloured moments to give the film this nice sketchy edge that makes it feel enjoyably unpolished and dirty. While it’s not dirty in the sense that other harder core action movies would have been, it’s still a nice balance. The main theme for this music was handled by Han Zimmer’s team and was mainly produced by Klaus Badelt, who worked on movies like Gladiator and The Prince of Egypt. Overall, it’s a fantastic theme that captures that swashbuckling adventurous energy that just gets people pumped up to see pirates.

For what this movie could have been, Pirates of the Caribbean turned what people didn’t expect much out of into something that they ate up like crazy. This hype did come with its own form of problems as it led to it being turned into an unnecessary franchise with sequels that (while still featuring plenty of enjoyable and cool moments) became too self-important and lost that fun simplicity that this movie captures. It has good performers, enjoyable effects, and an awareness of what it’s doing to make it goofy in the right ways and just serious enough so that it can be taken seriously, at least as much as it can be. It’s nothing impactful or anything that dramatically relevant, but as a good fun action movie about pirates, it’s still a pretty good sit all these years later. A pirate’s life is one that you’ll want to witness, return to the seas and venture back into the journeys of Jack Sparrow and his brushes with watery dangers.

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