JUNE 30, 2003

Saturday night, I was fortunate enough to attend the World Premiere of this summer's swashbuckling adventure, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, shown at Disneyland's celebrity-filled event. Below are a few photos showing the elaborate outdoor theater built for the premiere along the banks of New Orleans Square and the Rivers of America. (click on a photo to see image full size)

I will not go into plot details of the movie, because I hate it when critics and people spoil movies for me, but I will offer a general review based on "safe" material in the trailers, commercials and the plethora of online information commonly known by now. After the movie opens on July 9th, I will either update this review or post a secondary review to cover the film in more detail.

When a highly anticipated film finally meets its audience, two predictable events occur: those determined to hate the film and filmmakers will confirm their own worst expectations and decry the work loudly; others predisposed to reveling in every frame of the film will gush over it with equally unwavering passion.

I will review the movie for middle-of-the-road fans, and more specifically for those fans of the Disneyland attraction who were more than a bit worried the filmmakers would somehow ruin things. This subset of the audience grew quite a bit after the disappointment of The Country Bears Movie, which left a sour aftertaste in both theaters and the Park, and proved a synergistic nightmare on all counts. Frankly, I was not worried that Gore Verbinski and his crew could ruin the ride – but perhaps some bumbling management within Disney might harm the ride were the film a huge flop . . . or ironically, a huge hit. Would the "suits" somehow bastardize this classic Disney attraction in a pillaging sacrifice to the gods of merchandising? Speculation ran rampant, and pointlessly so – only the film's release would answer the question.

Well, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN the movie is here, and happily I can report that the film should provide a treasure of high seas action and entertainment for all concerned and overly concerned alike. In short, the film's greatest and often most subtle strength is how cast and crew went to considerable lengths to honor Walt's classic attraction, while making a fun adventure which boldly charts its own course. A far cry from the potential marketing-mad shipwreck on celluloid some expected, I could sense how PIRATES is indeed a film inspired by the Disneyland ride, in the highest sense of the term.

If PIRATES succeeds both financially and critically as expected, I believe it's due to three philosophies at the heart of the project: PIRATES was made to stand on its own as a film; as such, it pays clear and clever respects to the enduring ride that launched the film; and its creators made an all-out action/adventure movie which doesn't pull its punches for the family audience.

PIRATES alone may not "revive" the scuttled, skeletal remains of the pirate movie genre nor should it carry that burden, though I've already seen many previews and early reviews harp on that very point. I don't see how any modern era film could resurrect the style, tone and feel of a genre popular 60 years ago. Film content, techniques and audiences have changed far too much and will never go back, thus it would be foolish to attempt reviving pirate cinema of the past. Instead, writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and director Gore Verbinski have forged a sturdy and well-honed tale of swashbuckling adventure for today, which borrows many endearing qualities from the genre. Simply put, they made a good pirate movie. If that makes the pirate genre all the rage again, so be it – nothing succeeds like success. But wisely the creators focused on their own mission and succeeded to produce a fun, high spirited and sufficiently moody story to satisfy and exceed audience expectation.

< PIRATE'S MAIN | THE SCRIPT AND DIRECTION >