Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

A wonderful entertainer, thrilling, engrossing and stylish...

Rip-roaring fun for kids who don't mind skeletons.

Here -- in a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced high-seas adventure that incorporates roaring cannons, oddball comedy, a love story and more than a touch of the supernatural -- Depp unleashes his theatrical bravado. He's hilarious.

Depp invests this overfed, action-tractioned swashbuckler with a voluptuous wit and spry spontaneity it surely doesn't deserve.

And so we leave the cinema happy, our heads full of Gareth and gangsters-at-sea. Context, of course, is all.

Johnny, the kids and the pirates have a number-one hit on their hands. They raise the Jolly Roger and make other summer blockbusters walk the plank.

We took the Pirates of the Caribbean for granted and now we live with the consequences of our actions.

Competently mounted if essentially uninspired action-adventure, with some anti-climactic moments, some cavernous dead spots, and a generally sputtering pace.

While Depp has had numerous memorable roles, Captain Sparrow is by far the most intriguing of his characters and displays his talent as an actor.

This comedy is well integrated into the story, helping us to get to know the characters and the relationships that arise between them, but always with the mind of offering the viewer pure popcorn entertainment of the first level. [Full Review in Spanish]