Arrr...

Forgot to mention...saw Pirates 3 last week...A brief review is in order.

Well, I sat through it all, ignoring the impulse to walk out after about 45 mins...I just kept telling myself, "Don't worry, there doesn't have to be an engaging, continuous plot. It's got Johnny in it and it looks reeeeally pretty. Relax, its supposed to be silly".

It's a narrative mess. My reaction (after sitting through the credits and watching the coda) was, bizarrely, that films 2 and 3 would make better books than films. I'm sure something's being thrashed out by the franchise master minds at Disney as I write...There were so many coincidental references, both mythical and historical - from the portrayal of the East India Trading Company, the legend of Greek sea nymph Calypso, Davey Jones and the many infamous pirates name dropped throughout the films - that it was just too much detail for a kids movie (obviously Gore and co. are very attached to pirating lore - they just tried to cram a couple of hundred years into three hours). Also, the bouts of serious silliness, like Jack's hallucinations, may have amused the younger audience members but they smacked of filler.

All this muddled nautical mayhem was somehow tolerable because the movie's two major pulls - Sparrow's character and the CGI - delivered. Depp's performance is solid, if a little subdued and the special effects are nothing short of awesome (loved the desert crabs..).

The rest of the cast are passable, though I still have problems taking Knightley and Bloom seriously...they can't be mean, they both look about twelve (well, excluding the copious copping off) - their relationship is given alot more weight in this film, which works, I think.

Despite At World's End patchwork plot it is still an enjoyable flick - what other film can offer such sumptuous shenanigan's on the high seas? If you liked the others Pirates 3 will satisfy and there are lots of tie-ins to 1 and 2 - though be warned, its a decidedly darker affair. The opening scene is particularily uncomfortable. Mind you, if nothing else you get a good ogle at Keira. Arrr!

On a side note, work is due to start, fianlly, on '80s feline favourite, "Thunder, THUNDER, THUNDERCATS!" - woohoo!