On 2003: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

If we were listing 2003 movies by personal importance to this filmmaker (underground), this movie would probably be number one. I can’t overstate how important the first Pirates of the Caribbean was to my development as a consumer of movies (more on this later). Because of the time in my life when this movie came out, it will likely be forever associated with my adolescence also.

These days, I’m not sure what the kids are doing for summer vacation. Twenty years ago, must-dos with the peers during that time included pool parties, late-night conversations on the landline telephone and AOL Instant Messenger until two a.m., and seeing summer movie releases. I still want to call summer releases blockbusters, because back then, movies with a lot of studio marketing clout released between May and August were guaranteed to make a lot of money if reviews were good. Finding Nemo I remember being one of those movies that brought everyone and their grandmother to the multiplex, based on the strength of the film and Pixar’s previous track record. Maybe I’m biased, but I feel like word-of-mouth meant more then. The critics would get the ball rolling, but if your friend or your cousin or that kid in science class really liked the film, you were probably going to try to see it at the movie theater the following Saturday. Now that I’m typing this, maybe word-of-mouth meant more due to my age and being in the social structure of high school.

Still, though. I mention Finding Nemo in this essay because the experiences of watching that movie and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl that summer felt similar. You had people of all demographics piling into a packed house, and a viewing experience that was truly energized by the originality of the films. Both movies were such pleasant surprises, with their unique blends of humor, suspense, action, drama, and thrills. While Finding Nemo may have to be the topic of a different essay, I want to at least devote a piece to the first Pirates entry because I think we were incredibly lucky to get such a film, and also because I think this movie instilled in me an unfair expectation for action and summer movies that I want to examine with the benefit of hindsight, and a more developed cinematic and cultural eye.

For any yutes that have been living in the shadow of Johnny Depp’s mixed bag of a filmography and legal troubles for the past decade-plus, this movie is basically the reason Depp’s celebrity exploded. Before 2003, Depp was seen as this indie, offbeat actor, picking roles that were all over the map; yet he consistently added depth to his films with his soulful performances. As early as 2001, two years before Pirates was released, he was seen as this Hollywood rebel that eschewed mainstream stardom. With that in mind, Depp’s decision to star in a Disney film seems like a career 180, but pirates being “the rock stars of their day” greatly appealed to his sensibilities.

Is it hyperbole to say that Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the greatest cinematic characters of all time? I feel like it’s easy to underrate masterpieces if they’re associated with something seen as “for kids”, or meant to appeal to the masses. POTC 1 is a Disney film based on a theme park ride. No one probably knew the hit they were making at the time, let alone Depp himself. I agree with the AV Club’s assessment that Depp in the Jack Sparrow role was doing nothing more than putting his stamp on a film that allowed him and the characters and circumstances to be a little bit weird, a little bit alternative; he wasn’t aiming for the character to become iconic.

I hadn’t seen the first Pirates of the Caribbean film in a long time. I had forgotten how good it was. A lot of this movie’s originality rests on the strength of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio’s screenplay (and the story they shaped with Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert). And credit should also go to director Verbinski for not taking the theme park ride origins too literally. While there are nods to it in the film, the movie stands on its own, and you feel that the story is set in its own world, rather than tethered to the ride (and the few homages to the attraction are fun to watch).

But back to the screenplay. The writing is fun, clever, and takes you by surprise. In no way does this feel like any less of a pirate movie because it’s a Disney film. When the villainous Barbossa (played beautifully by Geoffrey Rush) summons Elizabeth Swann (a spirited Keira Knightley) to his quarters and she refuses, his henchmen tell her she’ll be dining with the crew, naked, if that’s her choice. The pirates are grubby and grimy, and I thought they cut pretty intimidating figures. When they first arrive in Port Royal, which is where most of the action takes place before the characters sail out to sea, they go around stabbing the crap out of people until they find who they’re looking for. And while you might be like, “duh, that’s what pirates do”, I cannot imagine Disney making a film like this nowadays.

And I have to tell you, Johnny Depp in this movie is excellent. I’m not very familiar with his body of work, but watching this film, his acting seems effortless. Jack Sparrow in the hands of a different performer could have seemed campy, or kitsch, and a lot of the movie’s heart and energy would have been sucked out of the film. Because Jack Sparrow seems so much like a real person, there’s an unexpected heart and soul to this movie that keeps you invested, even when the scenes are slower paced. There’s a a deep humanity to this captain thanks to the writing, acting, and direction. And this movie — and my summer back in 2003, and the pirate/action film genre, by extension — was and is better for it.

I was recently talking with a group of writers and actors about the glut of sequels. Did you know there are five Pirates of the Caribbean films? I saw the second one and feel like I’ve seen a third, but I can’t remember whether it was actually the third movie, or the fourth or fifth. For the record, I know that lots of people worked very hard to bring the Pirates sequels to life and make the best movies possible. That said, none of the films possess the same energy or spontaneity as Curse of the Black Pearl.

And when you have one mediocre sequel after another, recycling the same characters and other elements of the world, it’s easy to forget what made the first movie so special. It’s easy to forget that movie was special in the first place. Disney has changed so much in the twenty years since this film’s release, with such a global presence due to its acquisitions of Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. To be honest, I’m no longer sure that the Disney from my childhood and what Disney represents today are completely aligned. I feel like most singular media brands back when I was a kid in the 1990s had strong identities, which helped them generate strong content. Companies like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and Disney made films and television shows with a point of view, and knew exactly who their audiences were, and therefore were able to make stuff for them so effectively. I feel like Disney is so many things to so many people, with its wide reach and cultural permeation (Star Wars? Marvel?), and as a result has become more homogenous. Don’t get me wrong; I would make a movie for them in a heartbeat if given the chance. But I miss the days when it was clear what Disney stood for, and I feel like their corporate growth has diluted that a little bit. I think that contemporary Disney would have turned Pirates into a very different film. I honestly can’t speculate how that movie would have turned out — I really don’t know. But I do know I’m grateful that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl exists, and for how good of a movie it is.

As an aspiring filmmaker, the movie’s dialogue, action, and characters set the standard for summer blockbusters and action films. I grew up thinking this is how big movies should be made, and wondering for years why releases in the same vein had such trouble making such a cinematic and cultural impact, until I realized the first Pirates was an exception to the norm. Many blockbusters and action films come and go, but due to its dynamic creative and cinematic qualities, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is here to stay.