Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - PG-13 It's 2:30 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" sort of picks up where "… The Curse of the Black Pearl" ends. Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) are looking to get married, and our favorite pirate, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) finds himself looking for a special key, finds himself in trouble, yet still convinces his crew to help him out. Sadly for Will and Elizabeth they get arrested for helping Jack Sparrow in the first film, but mostly it’s a bogus arrest, just a way to make Will, and later Elizabeth, to help an evil Lord get Jack’s magic compass. So Will is off to find Jack and get his compass, Elizabeth soon follows, but Jack has his own problems, namely that he made a deal with the evil pirate Davy Jones, that if could be Captain of The Black Pearl again, that Davy would get his soul, and servitude, after so many years. Those years have come and gone, so now Jack knows that the only way to get out of his deal is to get Davy Jones’ treasure chest, which contains Davy’s still beating heart, and thus controls Davy’s life.

Yes, Will and Elizabeth both find Jack in their own way, and Jack convinces both of them to help him get the chest, but the Lord dude actually doesn’t really want the magic compass, really he wants the chest because that controls Davy Jones, which then in turn controls the new shipping lanes on the road to immeasurable fortune.

Okay, fine, the story is actually easier to understand if you watch the movie than my complicated synopsis, so let’s just say that, in the end, somehow everyone is looking for Davy Jones’ treasure chest, and not everyone plays nice.

As far as my opinion of "Pirates…: Dead Man’s Chest", I guess the easiest way to start is to say that for the first "Pirates…" film, there was a magic in learning about all of our swashbuckling characters. We loved learning of the idiosyncrasies of Jack Sparrow, his mannerisms, his goofiness, and his total likeability even though there was still something mean-spirited about him. We also got to fall in love with Elizabeth Swan because of her spunkiness, and just because she is just so damn loveable. And the dudettes got to get all dreamy-eyed at Will. But for this "Pirates…" film we already know all of this, so the story needed to be a lot stronger to lead us along their tales of love and mayhem. Sadly, for me, the story lacked a bit, and that is really the problem I had with the film. Action-wise "… Dead Man’s Chest" was fantastic. Effects-wise, even better than the first film. Johnny Depp was again great as Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando did fine as Will, and Keira Knightley, well, I’m quickly becoming a stalker so I can’t say anything bad about her. There were a few surprises, but nothing unbelievable, and in the end, it was the story that seemed to really lack because by this time we already know the quirks and characteristics of our favorite characters, so we didn’t need to be introduced to them anymore (like in the scene with the cannibalism tribe). Nope, for this movie we needed an entertaining story to move things along, and sadly, this movie was a lot more about the effects and looking cool rather than telling a story.

Look, I didn’t hate this movie, but it wasn’t nearly as fun the original, and in all honesty, that would have been a hard thing to accomplish. "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was a lot about us falling in love with the main characters and the story was sort of secondary. But this time, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest," we already love the characters, and the story needed to carry the film, and not just the effects. The story didn’t really entertain me that much.

And so I’m giving "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" 3 stars out of 5. I’m still in love with Keira Knightley, and Johnny Depp is still great as Captain Jack. My only hope is that for part three of this series, tentatively titled "At World’s End," the film folks set up what looks to be a fun story, especially with the inclusion of a past character, and hopefully the film folks understand we already love the characters, and I just want a great story.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!