Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Verbinski knows when to break out the stunning action sequences and when to let his characters dominate the film, and he handles both modes expertly.

Time Richard Corliss

This is an original work in an antique mood. The actors and authors all have fun with the genre without making fun of it. Rather, they revive it.

The New Yorker David Denby

All in all, Pirates of the Caribbean is the best spectacle of the summer: the absence of pomp is a relief, the warmth of the comedy a pleasure. [28 July 2003, p.94]

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A first-rate sail into Adventureland.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Finally, there's a big-budget popcorn movie that delivers what moviegoers hunger for: humor, action, thrills and charismatic characters. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the summer blockbuster we've been waiting for.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Flawed though it may be, it's frequently an unaffected pleasure, in no small part because of Depp but also because of a raffish air that's a welcome respite from the heavy going of "The Matrix Reloaded," "The Hulk" and other behemoths.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The law of commerce worked this time around: One terrific thrill ride has begotten another.

Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky

An exciting time at the movies, where you don’t smell something burning and realize it’s your brain cells dying off. During the summer movie season, that’s rather hard to avoid. But this movie has avoided it and it’s time well spent.

Film Threat Mark Sells

Puts itself at the top of the list as one of the most entertaining swashbucklers to hit the big screen.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Pirates of the Caribbean moves easily from sunny 18th-century seafaring adventure to creepy zombie flick and back again.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Bruckheimer -– always eager to egg on the public’s thirst for bigger, louder, stupider –- has done a scandalous amount of damage to contemporary cinema, but for once, his dubious talent for big-buck bombast is exploited for good rather than evil.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Pirates offers something for everyone: Bloom and Depp for the ladies, big action and Knightley for the men, self-aware gags for the postmodern crowd, Depp and Rush for fans of top-rank scenery chewing.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A film that dares to be smart, reasonably complicated and scary while swashing its buckles.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Letting any other actor run wild like this could have been a disaster, but Depp's peculiar buccaneer is an instant classic of actorly charisma.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Verbinski puts a Jackie Chan flourish of high energy and gymnastic action on the swashbuckling stunts and swordplay and keeps this lark sailing along.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Oozes atmosphere. The humor keeps it from becoming too creepy, but there are still a few chills to be had.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A rollicking, jumbo-sized swashbuckler, awash in sword fights, cursed treasures, plank walkings and hurtling cannonballs. This stylish, rousing movie has been directed with refreshing levity and wit.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

An improbably entertaining, if overlong, adventure that brings new meaning to the term "summer camp." Doubloons! Ripped bodices! Unbuckled swash! Rum galore!

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's a good thing that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp are on hand to jack up the acting department. Their characters, two world-class goofballs, keep us interested even during entirely pointless swordfights.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

I love it, but much in the way I managed to love "The Phantom Menace" -- in spite of its bloat, swaggering self-importance and largely neutered characters.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The dazzling, high-flying silliness is quite an achievement. The movie is better than it deserves to be, given its origins: a ride at Disneyland and Disney World.

Village Voice Ed Park

Convoluted but diverting.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

When Pirates of the Caribbean is good, it's certainly something to behold.

Newsweek David Ansen

Fortunately, whenever the movie starts to sag, Depp flies to the rescue. It’s a truly piratical performance: with his flamboyantly fluttering fingers he steals every scene in the movie.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

At least the movie Pirates of the Caribbean is fun -- but only as long as you don't expect much. Take it from me: The ride is better.

Premiere Scott Warren

Children of all ages: Brace yourselves for a helluva ride.

Slate David Edelstein

Pirates is OK, in patches even better.

Variety Todd McCarthy

The picture's constant forward movement and breezy sense of amusement about itself provide a certain mild sort of diversion.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

The large cast, costumed and made up as filthy scalawags and sinister buccaneers, gives tremendous energy to every scene.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

There may be nothing more fun for actors than experimental exaggeration, especially when filming on a Caribbean island. But there’s nothing that makes an audience feel less welcome than not being in on the joke.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Eventually the concept buckles under the heavy blockbuster treatment, becoming a monotonous, repetitive spectacle of endless shipboard sword fights and pirate ghosts in the moonlight.

Wall Street Journal Collin Levey

Without Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, who play two rival pirate captains, "Pirates" might have gone straight to video. The two are a pleasure to watch, rescuing an otherwise forgettable film.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

My main complaint -- there's too much emphasis on action -- will strike the film's young target audience as a see-worthy virtue rather than a fault.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The movie blows, me hearties, but don't you dare miss it...Why? Johnny Depp, that's why...This has gotta rank among the weirdest performances in the zany annals of the silver screen.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This typically bloated production from Jerry Bruckheimer is good swashbuckling fun for the first few reels but eventually slows to a halt under the weight of too many doubloons.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Trimming half an hour from this bloated, 143-minute blockbuster would have highlighted the film's treasures, not the least of which is Johnny Depp's endearingly eccentric performance as Captain Jack Sparrow.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Director Gore Verbiniski delivers the best one can hope for: a cleverly nostalgic, high-tech copy of the real deal.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Depp swans through this swashbuckler with a scene-stealing gusto unseen since Marlon Brando in "Mutiny on the Bounty." He's comic dynamite, but this plodding, repetitive bore should walk the plank for timidly refusing to light his fuse.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This noisy retread, a secondhand facsimile of a movie, is, except for the headache its boisterous sound level leaves you with, as forgettable as a bad day in the Disneyland parking lot.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Not enough to keep this celluloid ship from sinking under the weight of its own stupidity.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The booty here is 100 percent fool's gold.