Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has proven his genius by making a terrifically entertaining movie that overcame a double whammy: 1) the curse of the pirate genre, 2) being based not on a book, but on a Disneyland ride.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is the story of a group of pirates on the ship the Black Pearl who are trying to break a curse that was put upon them when they stole an Aztec treasure chest filled with gold medallians.

Along the way they kidnap the daughter of a British colonial governor, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly), and are pursued by her hopeful suitor, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), whose motives shift with the tides. The movie’s success lies with its humor, notably Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the whimsical pirate captain who gushes about how much he loves weddings after Elizabeth announces her engagement, and grouses about the lack of rum more than the lack of food when he gets marooned on a desert island.

It also has a dash of swashbuckling action heightened again by humor and coolly creepy CG transformations of people into walking, fighting, dress-wearing skeletons. Pirates is a bit lacking in the emotions department (there are a number of scenes between Elizabeth and Will which are vaguely reminiscent of the painful love scenes between Padme and Anakin in Attack of the Clones, especially since at times Knightly bears an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Portman), but who cares? This is a live action cartoon that is nothing but fun. One little hint: watch all the way to the end of the credits and you’ll be rewarded with a capper of a funny extra little scene.