Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Year Released/Rating: 2003 PG-13

Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush

Directed By: Gore Verbinski

Written By: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert

Genre: Action Adventure

Star Rating: 4/5 stars

Where I Got It: We own it

Trivia:

• Johnny Depp wore contact lenses which served as sunglasses so he wouldn't be squinting in the sun all the time.
• The scene where Orlando Bloom impersonates Johnny Depp's performance was devised by Bloom who asked producer Jerry Bruckheimer if he could put it into the movie.
• When returning from a night shoot on one of the Caribbean islands, Keira Knightley's boat struck a reef and went down. The only people aboard were Knightley, her mother Sharman Macdonald and the boat's skipper, all of whom escaped unharmed and were rescued within a few hours. However, the incident ultimately determined that the rest of the island night shoots needed would complete filming in a studio, rather than on location.
• The East India Company (the real-life counterpart of the film franchise's East India Trading Company) really did brand pirates with a "P" but it was put on their forehead instead of their arm.
• The "Fort" in Port Royal is actually not on St. Vincent's, but at a closed down amusement park (Marineland) in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
• The name "Barbossa" might have been derived from the real Turkish pirate "Barbarossa". Barbarossa, also known as "Redbeard", was once a pirate in the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas before he became a fleet admiral of the Ottoman Empire navy.

Summary: Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate "Captain" Jack Sparrow to save his love, the governor's daughter, from Jack's former pirate allies, who are now undead.

Review: A fun movie, but just don't think about it too much.  The best part of the movie is definitely Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa.  He is such a hoot.  Love him!  The rest of the cast is ho-hum in comparison.  It's still a fun movie to watch for a night in.

Best Bits: 

• Jack Sparrow: Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
• Norrington: No additional shot nor powder, a compass that doesn't point north, [looks at Jack's sword] and I half expected it to be made of wood. You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of.  Jack Sparrow: But you have heard of me.
• Will Turner: This is either madness... or brilliance.  Jack Sparrow: It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide.
• Elizabeth: Captain Barbossa , I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal .  Barbossa: There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?  Elizabeth: I want you to leave and never come back.  Barbossa: I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means "no".
• Jack Sparrow: Parleley, parlelellyleloooo, par le nee, partner, par... snip, parsley...  Ragetti: Parley?  Jack Sparrow: That's the one. Parley. Parley.  Pintel: Parley? Damn to the depths whatever man what thought of "Parley".  Jack Sparrow: That would be the French.