When we think about Disney as a megacorporation, we think about the princesses, the movies from Pixar Animation, and the Renaissance era, like The Lion King (1994) or Hercules (1997). My personal favorite era of Disney was the post-Renaissance era of the 2000s, when Disney animators had creative freedom to make their passion projects and experiment, and a bunch of cult classics emerged, like Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002).
However, the live-action Disney era of the 2000s-2010s was an underappreciated time in pop culture when fun and edgy live-action movies were coming out. Some were financially successful, and others were not. There was one Disney trilogy that stood out among movies such as National Treasure (2004) and The Game Plan (2007): the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy (2003-2007) by Gore Verbinski.
So, how did a Disney Theme Park attraction become one of the most iconic film trilogies of all time? Good question. The megacorporation used to let directors do their own thing before the remake trend went too far, and Disney stopped caring about originality. Verbinski was the one auteur filmmaker who didn’t have any restraint when it came to making his three pirate films. They were visually distinct, well-shot, well-lit, polished with incredible post-production computer effects, and they were well-acted. They were fun, bold action-adventure movies that blended fantasy, romance, and comedy into a unique form of entertainment that felt special and is now rare in the current streaming and theatrical markets. What came out in the 2000s was a trifecta of swashbuckling throwback to Errol Flynn adventure serials/Buster Keaton slapstick comedy, with gonzo modern CG effects thrown in for good measure. However, his success story was only for a short time.
While the first movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was about Jack Sparrow facing Barbosa, and Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann’s romance blossoming, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) is about the three characters having their morals be compromised by Sparrow’s debt to a fishman captain, Will wanting to save his father from Davy Jones’ crew, and James Norrington wanting the Davy’s heart in the chest so that he can get his old position and status back. It’s a morally complex studio picture that was initially met with mixed responses, but in retrospect, the complexity of this movie and its final installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), is the strongest suit of these sequels.
Like Curse of the Black Pearl being its Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) of the 2000s, being that it’s a traditional adventure film with a charming protagonist, cool villain, a central romance and fun action set-pieces, Dead Man’s Chest is the Empire of the Strikes Back (1980) of that millennium being that it surpasses the first film, has an exciting cliffhanger ending with an enthralling falling action. Unique to the trilogy, it introduces a new central villain, Davy Jones, played by Bill Nighy.
Dead Man’s Chest is a major visual improvement over the CG skeletons in Curse of the Black Pearl. The second installment has Jones’ impressive motion capture beard design, the Kraken, the Cannibal Island escape sequence, and memorable action scenes like the three-way duel between Jack, Norrington, and Will on that giant wooden spinning wheel. Elizabeth Swann goes from a typical damsel in distress to a bad-ass pirate. If you ask me, Elizabeth Swann is the true Disney Princess.
To talk about why Davy Jones is a well-written villain in this larger-than-life trilogy can’t even be put into words. When you first meet him, he’s a pirate captain shrouded in mystery and legend. All that you know is that he’s a tentacled pirate cursed to sail the high seas unless someone else replaces his heart with another. Nighy plays the role with a menacing, boastful edge. Throughout the second film, all the main characters have individual goals and desires, leading everyone to hunt for the same chest and sacrifice more and more. That’s kind of the beauty of this movie, it’s mainly a goal-oriented character study piece of a blockbuster that we rarely see in Hollywood nowadays.
The cinematography of this movie, from Dariusz Wolski, makes the movie a true marvel to behold, including the one shot of Elizabeth pointing a muzzleloader at Cutler Beckett’s head. However, it’s not talked about how good the writing of this trilogy is from Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who also wrote scripts for Gore’s other films, Rango (2011) and The Lone Ranger (2013), and even wrote Aladdin (1993), Shrek (2001) and The Road to El Dorado (2000) — the pair has a knack for writing entertaining adventure films with a sense of humor.
Rather than the movie ending the established plot after the third act, it ends with the seeds planted for an epic conclusion to Gore’s swashbuckling saga. Saying why Dead Man’s Chest is better than Curse of the Black Pearl is why Dante Hicks from Clerks (1994) prefers Empire Strikes Back, a down but hopeful note is better than the typical satisfying ending where everybody wins. Both endings involve the main characters willing to risk their lives for their friends, being beaten by their enemy, and the supporting characters setting the stage for the next movie that concludes the trilogy.
In general, Dead Man’s Chest is very much worth revisiting. In retrospect, the movie looks a lot better visually and director-wise than the output of live-action Disney remakes that have come out. The lack of color, emotion, or creative control lacks the magic, spectacle, and heart that Verbinski’s Pirates movies have. It’s almost criminal that we don’t have a PG-13 live-action movie under Disney in theaters anymore. The company used to challenge kids and young adults when it comes to the mature themes under a corporation putting out and creating children’s entertainment, and telling passionate stories for every demographic. Now, the company recycles nostalgic ideas for profit and saturates the market with its streaming service. The entertainment industry may be bleak, but at least we’ll always have Pirates.
Article Courtesy of Santiago Brion
Feature Image Credit to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures