Pirates Of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is a wildly entertaining and funny pirate film that steals left, right and centre from the classics of the genre. It is rather noisy, but not without charm. The film's interminable title is actually quite telling: restraint is not what characterises the film. There is in fact a little too much of everything. That goes for the plot too, which goes on and on until it is almost impossible to recount.

The legendary pirate ship The Black Pearl, with its dreaded crew under the command of the villainous Captain Barbossa, attacks Port Royal in Jamaica and abducts the governor's beautiful daughter Elizabeth Swan. It is not ransom they are interested in. They want at all costs to get hold of the gold medallion Elizabeth wears. It is the missing gold piece of an Aztec treasure that Barbossa and his men have stolen. Now they want to return the treasure in order to lift the curse that hangs over the ship.

The blacksmith Will Turner, who is secretly in love with Elizabeth, decides to give chase to The Black Pearl while everyone else hesitates. Together with the resourceful but slightly crazy and morally dubious Jack Sparrow, who was once captain of the Pearl, he commandeers a ship and sets off after the kidnappers. And that was only the beginning. There is plenty of romance, suspense, comedy, impressive effects and spectacular battle scenes in the rest of the film; in short, plenty of bang for your buck.