Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
July 9, 2003 in theaters
When wily pirate Captain Barbossa seizes Jack Sparrow’s beloved ship, the Black Pearl, and kidnaps the governor’s daughter, Elizabeth Swann, blacksmith Will Turner reluctantly teams up with the unpredictable pirate Jack to rescue her—only to uncover a terrifying curse that turns Barbossa’s crew into the undead.
Cast
Director
TRAILER
QUOTE
"This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow."
DID YOU KNOW?
Disney executives were convinced the film would fail -- a pirate movie hadn't been successful since the 1950s.
THE VERDICT
Synthesized from published reviews
One of the more unlikely franchise launchers in blockbuster history -- a theme park ride adaptation that arrived with a fully realized world, a genuinely original lead performance, and a wit the genre rarely manages at this scale. Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow is one of the great comic-action creations of its decade, and the film earns its runtime by keeping the plot mechanics genuinely engaged. A film that should not have worked as well as it does and knows it.
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