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Disney isn’t exactly consistent when it comes to filmmaking. For every The Lion King there are around three times as much Inspector Gadgets hiding at the back of store shelves. So then it’s not every day then, that a franchise comes along from them that manages to gain a cult following, prompting kids that walk around with swords and fake beards, and theme park rides with giant sponge krakens at the gates awaiting your arrival (ironic really, that Pirates of the Caribbean spawned from a Disney Land ride). In anticipation of a fifth instalment announced, I rank what I believe is the order of the POTC films from worst to best, starting witthhhh…….

#4 On Stranger Tides (2011)

Now don’t get me wrong, the latest film Disney churned out did have its moments. It tried hard to downplay the ‘epicness’ of the story and provide us with a simpler and more straight forward adventure, much like the original, and does it pretty well. However, this instalment doesn’t leave you with that same feeling you get when watching the others – you don’t really get the sense that you’ve just watched a Pirates of the Caribbean film. All the best elements from the first three films were hardly in use here. Heck, Blackbeard is one of the most feared real pirates there were, and he was so underused. The returning characters don’t act same as you’d expect them to (Barbossa, really?) and I especially didn’t like the fact that the main cast hardly share any screen time together, due to a limiting script. There were a couple of stand-out moments, nothing memorable though – the journey didn’t really go anywhere, even forgetting the anti-climatic ending. Verbinski ‘got’ the POTC films, and this one just seemed to be lacking that something special. It was ok, but that was just its problem – it was Ok.

#3 Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

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The second movie took most of the favourite characters we all know and thrusted them into a new adventure, that lasted two films, whilst continuing the Will and Elizabeth plot. It didn’t live up to the first film, mainly because the first was so unexpectedly good. However, this is still a fun and great film. There is a distinctive gap, for me at least, between the first three and the last movie. It suffered, too, by not following a basic film structure, which kind of has end randomly and without a full feeling. There are plenty of laughs, however, along with great action, satisfactory acting and some cool new characters, the pick of the bunch being Davy squid face Jones. The back-story of the Pearl is interesting and scenes that you’d expect to be boring just…aren’t, as is the case with most of the parts from the Gore Verbinski’s trilogy. Overall the movie manages to stay very clear of the red zone by being light on its feet and filling in its content. A worthy entry and a fitting middle section acting as a bridge to The Curse of the Black Pearl and to At World’s End.

#2 At World’s End (2007)

Here is a blockbuster that has been ridiculed by many, not least for the fact that it was at a time the most expensive film ever made. It feels rushed and isn’t serious enough wherever it should be. Despite the fact that they are not in it as much as before, William and Elizabeth still provide far too many cringe-worthy moments. Many important factors are not even explained, it tries to be too epic, and Jack Sparrow just goes all-out weirdo here. But the fact of the matter is, it was so damn fun. Despite its numerous flaws, this is the entry that has the most fun factor out of the franchise, which is why it sits comfortably in second place. There are so many entertaining parts and it is very re-watchable. I can see why it was hard to follow for some, what with the ever-changing allegiance from the numerous characters, but to me the pacing was fine. I adored Barbossa as one of the protagonists (if you could call him that) and the constant banter and bickering between him and everybody’s favourite captain. This was truly a fitting, though flawed, ending to a superb trilogy. You don’t get many trilogies where all three films complement each other so well and are so enjoyable.

#1 The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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This is such a gem of a movie. It came out of nowhere and with little expectations, reigniting film fans’ love of pirate adventures. The fact that it had no expectation contrasts with its sequels, which is why it was probably so successful. You’ve got the classic pirate villain (played brilliantly by Geoffrey Rush – my favourite character of the films), great CGI, and some incredibly witty scenes. Let’s not forget Jonny Depp’s outstanding, unforgettable and charismatic portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. It seems he was supposed to be an appealing supporting character, and yet shoved the cliché love plot out of the way and made the film his own. Very little can be said of this film in a negative light. It was clever, witty and sharp. One of the true achievements, however, was that it wasn’t too witty and sharp – it knew its boundaries, unlike the sequels. The seriousness of the situations these characters were put in felt real. Therefore, we cared about what happened to them. Despite my eagerness for the upcoming film, I can’t see it topping The Curse of the Black Pearl. In fact, I can’t see any pirate film surpassing one of the landmark movies of the past decade. Great Stuff.

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