But although the visuals of the film, not to mention the story itself, are extremely high on my list of what truly stands out in this film, the performances of Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and maybe even a little in Keira Knightley, are what truly shine. My appreciation for both actors already remains high, but their performances here were outstanding and captivating. Johnny Depp played the off-tilt Captian Jack Sparrow with incredible character and expression without losing the character in Jack's oddities and mannerisms. Geoffrey Rush played the cultured and intelligent, but pirate to the core, Captian Barbossa of the damned Black Pearl with such brilliant subtle combination of personalities. Both are pirate captians, both are linked in an epic adversity, and both steal the film. In fact, if it wasn't for Keira's strong performance in her very bold character of Elizabeth Swann, the primary plotline would have been completely forgotten.

Grown adults, who had never shown such childlike joy and eagerness in the prospects of a film, were excited to wait in fervent anticipation for its release. The trailor was enough to capture them, without action big names or credentials, but simply with the promise of such a story. And a wonderful film of all their expectations is what they received in their gleeful viewing. Will it go down in film history with the likes of Indiana Jones and E.T.? Not necessarily, nor is it of such rare high value, but it does have a good tale, incredible performances, captivating visual presence, and a lot of fun, and all without obvious or distracting pretention or faults. Now my question is, how does a film taken from a theme ride have more depth, interest, and punch than a whole mass of summer films taken from decades of story, popularity, and strong roots?

Website Review: (http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/index.html) Now this is a movie website! Games, info, behind the scenes, conceptual art, creative gaphics, movement, creative ways of telling the basics, and the standard trailers, photos, and wallpapers/screensavers. The site is thoroughly enjoyable and informative. The first of the behind the scenes clips was particularly interesting for me when they showed the quarter scale model ship in its ocean set with a full storm a-blowin' where you could see the set itself. It was almost surreal, the visuals were so real despite being a quater scale model, but you could see the nearest edge of the set, and just before you saw all the water contraptions to get the atmostphere and ocean going. Amazing. I've always wanted to get into that aspect of filmmaking. It is also another example of the production not losing their heads over digital effects, as the model shots were far more effective and real.