Avast ye, scallywags! Up the riggings! Shiver me timbers! and other such piratey lingo! For summer 2006 be the return of Disney’s rum guzzling, sword swinging, word slurring, money grubbing franchise spawned from a mere fairground ride - but does Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest hold sway over the ropey waters of the summer blockbuster, or is it destined to dance the hempen jig and sink? The interesting thing about Dead Man’s Chest is that it could go either way.
With the release of the original Pirates of the Caribbean (that was the Curse of the Black Pearl one) many scoffed at the prospect of Disney attempting to resurface a dead franchise, many had tried to re-float the pirate boat, all to be sunk on their maiden voyage. In fact, even Disney wasn’t sure why it was pouring all this money into a pirate film; it wasn’t that long since Cutthroat Island became one of the biggest flops in cinematic history. Yet image Disney’s delight as, somewhat unexpectedly, Pirates of the Caribbean became a worldwide hit and Johnny Depp’s Cap’n Jack received an Oscar nomination. Not only did the Pirate boat float again, it soared, making Disney’s already bursting wallets even… burstier. Thanks, Jack.
And it certainly was thanks to Jack (or rather, Johnny) that Pirates became such a hit. His outlandish, semi-inebriated performance re-empowered the raised eyebrow, reignited the desire for roguery, buried treasure and going ‘arrggg’, and made many-a-female yearn for a ride in his, um… love boat. Luckily, Mr Depp and the pretty much everyone from original agreed to return. ‘Cha-ching’ thought Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
With the estimated £400million spent creating Pirates part 2 and 3 (filmed back to back) it’s the sound of the ‘ching’ that echoes so unapologetically throughout Dead Man’s Chest, cue: ridiculously overblown (yet wonderfully so) fight scenes, CGI by the barrelful and 4 fully realised pirate ships built solely for the continuous ‘flyover’ shots. The thought of ‘excess’ is so undeniable throughout, this could be director Gore Verbinski’s Apocalypse Now, there’s even a segment where Jack is worshipped as a deity by a indigenous tribe. Yet Dead Man’s superfluousness isn’t solely reserved for the action, it’s also inherent within the story. Where Black Pearl was a lean, mean, if a little over-appreciated summer hit, Dead Man’s Chest attempts to instil full-blown character arcs in even the most mundane of original cast members. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is still as wooden as a plank, but now he’s joined by his carbuncled father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightly) has picked up a few double entendres (“Will taught me how to handle a sword”), Cap’n Jack (Johnny Depp) owes a dept to Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and his fishy friends, Norrington (Jack Davenport) has hit the bottle and is looking for redemption, there’s the evil British East India Company and even one eyed Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook) finds god.
This is where the audience may get a little restless; jump ship, if you will. With so much story to wade through, and so many action sequences to coo at, and with the overall length of the film… it’s all too much for your average Disney audience to sit through; parents can only keep their sugar-fuelled children controlled for so long. On the other hand, those who find interest in the madness of over-budgeting and general bloatedness will find much to savour. Gore Verbinski and screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio haven’t settled for repeating the first movie, they’ve expanded on everything, and not all unsuccessfully; Dead Man’s Shoes is consistently darker, scarier, funnier and simply bigger than the Black Pearl, yet for many, perhaps they’ve pushed the boat out too far.