I'm going to break away for a moment from my usual DVD reviews and actually review a movie. We don't often go to the movies, mostly because of the excessive pricing, but we treated our daughter to the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. It had some good bits, but I'll agree with most people that it wasn't as good as the first one. Personally I feel the pacing was a bit off. It had some really exciting, thrilling sequences, but there was lots of exposition, and it dragged a bit in places.

I suspect the problem is possibly that it's part one of a two-parter. I don't know whether it was originally written as two parts or one complete script that was cut in two, but its mostly all exposition and setup, and really only comes together towards the end of the film. My wife complained that while it had some good bits, it was mostly boring. I'd be interested to see part two (or part three in the series) when it comes out. I think most of the action and resolution will be in the last movie. Personally, I think it should have been written as one complete movie with some threads into the next.

Something else that strikes me as a bit odd, and I've seen it commented about in other forums, so it's not just me - Captain Jack seems odd. It's nothing that Johnny Depp is doing, as usual he's fantastic, but instead of Jack being a great pirate pretending to be a fool, he's the other way round this time. In the first film it was almost like it drunken idiotic behaviour was merely a distraction so that others would assume he wasn't a threat, but really he was. This time he just seems to lurch from disaster to disaster, bumbling along, and just narrowly escaping. I guess it just seemed strange for the character. Another friend commented that perhaps it was because Sparrow was deathly afraid of Davey Jones. Perhaps he's right?

I suppose it didn't help that we were only able to get into a late session and we were pretty tired by the time it finished - nearly midnight! I'd probably still buy it on DVD when it comes out, but I don't think i'll pay theatre rates to go again. Perhaps I would enjoy it more in the comfort of my own home when I'm fresh and alive.

What's good:

• Captain Jack - even as a fool he's still good fun


• The undead monkey


• Davey Jones and his crew


• The Kraken


• The cannibal island sequence


• The fight over the chest sequence


• The Voodoo Witch - dirty, but strangely sexy all at the same time

What's bad:

• Lots of exposition - can drag on a bit


• Some sequences don't serve much purpose - seem to be in it just for the sake of it


• The new governor - his scenes are mostly exposition - not that interesting. Hopefully it'll play into something more later.

So how should I rate it. I'd have given Curse of the Black Pearl a 10/10, so I'll have to give Dead Man's Chest an 8/10. It's not an abomination to entertainment, but could have been better - may improve upon subsequent viewings with it's missing half intact, the eventual Pirates of the Caribbean - End of the World.