Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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Johnny Depp gives a quirky, Oscar-nominated performance as the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, striking a tentative alliance with a lovelorn blacksmith (Orlando Bloom) to rescue a governor’s daughter (Kiera Knightley) from Jack’s former comrades, who are now a cursed undead army. The undead pirates are led by Captain Barbosa (Shine‘s Geoffrey Rush), who aims to sacrifice Knightley to break the curse and restore his buccaneers to life. Throughout the journey, Sparrow’s allegiance appears to shift back and forth, while Bloom’s character struggles to confess his affection for Knightley, who is already betrothed to a stuffy British officer (Jack Davenport) who is in hot pursuit of them.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a winning film translation of Walt Disney’s famous theme park attraction. It’s anchored by a remarkable screenplay that is well-plotted and well-paced, giving its principal characters just enough room for development to make it worth our while to invest in their adventures. Director Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Ring) distinguishes the period adventure with Rube Goldberg-style action choreography, humor, and whimsy. The film also has a cool, anachronistic rock-and-roll vibe that comes across in the rapid film editing, Klaus Badelt’s pulse-pounding score (produced by Hans Zimmer), and Johnny Depp’s performance — which the actor says is an imitation of The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards.

Depp is beguiling here, so much so that the film would launch multiple sequels under his name. Bloom and Knightley do their best to keep up with him. Geoffrey Rush gives a wonderfully quintessential pirate performance. Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook offer a lot of comic relief as two of Barbosa’s dullard crew. The film runs a bit long at nearly two-and-a-half hours, but it’s never boring — especially not when the moon comes out from behind the clouds, revealing Barbosa and his crew to be a rotting skeletal army.

With Jonathan Pryce and Zoe Saldana (Avatar).

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing