User Reviews

I tell you, I was so disappointed to not see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End it's opening weekend, but in some ways, it was kind of a blessing, at least I would get some reviews from friends who saw it, like my movie buddy. Now so far this May, the sequels have been disappointing, excluding 28 Weeks Later, they're just not as good as the originals or their sequels. When I asked my friend how Pirates 3 was, she said it was a major disappointment, oh, man, that got me nervous, since her and I have virtually the same taste in movies. But my mom and I wanted to see this film still, just see what it was about, and I have to say that I actually enjoyed this film more that what I was lead to believe it was.

OK, I'm not sure how to explain the plot, since there is so much to say, but I'm going to give it a shot. Will and Elizabeth's relationship is on the rocks since Elizabeth has not told anyone that she was the cause of Jack's death. Jack is needed to help Will get his father back, so he and the crew bring back Jack from Davy Jone's locker. The English Command has hung everyone in the town who has done anything to do with pirates, and are out to kill every last one of the pirates. Captain Barbossa is back and he is in a fight with Jack on who is captain of the ship. Traitors reveal themselves into the biggest pirate battle you'll ever see!

I hope that helps somewhat, there are a lot of stories to follow in this film. But it has great acting, superb effects, and terrific stories. There are a few ridicules moments that are unbelievable, but I think that if you just relax and give the movie a break, you may find yourself having a lot of fun in this great sequel. It was a great ending to the story, the only story I didn't like how they ended it was the story between Will and Elizabeth, but I'm not going to spoil it for you. But please just give this movie a break, it's really great when you give it a chance.

9/10

This third installment is just as long, fixes some of the damages but adds along new ones. At Worlds End improves on its CGI magic but still possesses that dragging story that is just too long and confusing.

I'm a huge fan of the Piates of the Caribbean movies, but I was a little nervous about seeing this third installment because of the not as good other third installments. I still had pretty high expectations, and I was not disappointed! The plot was brilliant and very creative, with plenty of exciting twists and turns. As always, the acting was incredible. Johnny Depp always does an amazing job, but his Captain Jack Sparrow is probably one of his bests works yet! I still don't see how anyone could be so brilliant... Anyways, overall, just a really great film. Better than the other Pirate films in the trilogy (and you know how good those are!) See it, you won't be disappointed!

The Pirates of the Caribbean-movie serials is probably one I'll never grow tired off. The characters are fun and great, always adventurous and spectacular to watch.

It's really too bad that this time they felt the need to make things even bigger, more complex and conclusive than the previous two movies. Really not needed. In my opinion the first movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" is still the best because of the reason that it's simple, fun and choices to be purely entertaining. They already went wrong with this approach during the second movie; "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", when they put in more new characters and different hard to follow plot lines. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" goes on in the same trend as the previous movie. There are more new characters and as far as the new many plot-lines are concerned...well let me just say that after a while I just gave up trying to understand the movie and just let the movie take me away with its visuals, humor and other entertaining elements. And this movie regardless should really be able to take you away on a roller-coaster-ride of pure entertainment.

No doubt in my mind that this movie could had become the best one out of the series. It had all the potential and budget for that, now if they had only cut down about halve of the script...Most of the plot-lines seem redundant and are actually far from believable because they contradict from what happened in the first two movies. The many betrayals among characters and side-picking became really confusing after a while, till it reached a point when you just didn't knew who was fighting for what. But like I said before, after a while you just stop caring about it and simply enjoy the movie for what it brings you. It all is also the reason why the movie is now nearly 3 hours long. Now the movie is not as good and entertaining as the first but maybe just slightly better than the second one, because of the large scale of this movie.

The movie is definitely big. There is no lack of action as some people claim there is. There is just as much action as there is in the first two movies, only difference this time is that the movie is nearly 3 hours long and therefor the movie also has some more talking-sequences and slower moments in it.

The movie is also big with its musical score by Hans Zimmer and he actually succeeded in composing a new great theme for the movie. In its action moments the movie gets definitely uplifted by its musical score.

The action sequences are definitely well constructed and at times pure eye candy. So are the special effects, although I feel that the second movie was still better on that. It seems like they tried to overdo things this time and I'm mainly talking about the end battle, when it comes down to its special effects, by putting in some complex shots. No matter how good CGI is these days, you still see that it's CGI.

Most roles get extended in this movie. Marty, Tia Dalma and even Jack the monkey and Cotton's parrot. But of course the movie still remains the Jack Sparrow-show. Really one of the best characters in recent years, all thanks to Johnny Depp, who provide the movie with its biggest laughs and most hilarious absurd moments. He still plays the character as good and fresh as he did for the first time 4 years ago. You can't just ever grow tired of Jack Sparrow. I was also very pleased to see Geoffrey Rush back as Barbossa. His role was bigger which allowed Geoffrey Rush to shine even more. Bill Nighy was also as good as always as Davy Jones. Orlando Bloom's and Keira Knightley's acting also has really improved over the years. I was actually surprised to see how much of the movie Keira Knightley carries this time and how well she does this. Even in the sequences with Geoffrey Rush she does. She also gets to do more interesting in the movie when it comes done to action. In a way she has taken over the Will (Orlando Bloom) role in this movie this time and Will himself gets pushed more to the background this time compared to the first two movies, which really shouldn't bother most people, unless you're a teenage-girl of course. She handles both the action- and comical sequences really well. And even Keith Richards shows up in an already classic cameo as Jack's father. But some role also got narrowed down to my regret, such as Jonathan Pryce's and Jack Davenport's and lets not forget the Kraken.

Still, I really wouldn't mind seeing more Pirates of the Caribbean movies in the future, if needed with new actors and characters, as long as Johnny Depp stays as Jack Sparrow. The serials still have more than enough potential and haven't dried up yet.

8/10

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Dir. Gore Verbinski)

After losing Jack Sparrow to the locker of Davy Jones, the team of Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa make their final alliances with the pirate world to take on the forces of Lord Cutler Beckett and his crew, including Davy Jones, who he now has control over. It's not going to be easy, as they must rescue Sparrow, convince all the pirate lords to join them and defeats Beckett, whilst each individual pirate has their own route which they wish to follow.

It's often a sad time for me, when i see a trilogy come to an end. There are so many great characters that you really do start to miss them. Unfortunately, trilogies always seem to have the problem are living up to the previous movies. 'At World's End' falls into this category. The characters are great as always with Geoffrey Rush bringing Barbossa back to life as much as he did in the first movie. The special effects are amazing again, with some beautiful crafted fight sequences and Davy Jones looking even more realistic. The music is fun again but disappointing compared to the first two films. The main problem with this film is the story. It's not the most easy to follow story and can really make you think for a bit. Still, the third 'Pirates' movie is a roller-coaster of a movie.

"Do you fear death?" - Davy Jones (Bill Nighy)

I was a complete sucker for the effects this time. I have grown to dislike franchise films based on the starving and then desperately feeding sweets to mainstream American audiences, the sweets being computer-generated visual effects. Well, this one got me. Gore Verbinski, the director of all three films in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, has a deep, intuitive understanding of the fear, drama, and peace that can be derived from water. The film may not have the brilliantly elaborate sword fights that its predecessors had, but there are many unbelievably dazzling sequences involving pirate ships and the effects the gargantuan ocean has upon them. Horizons, whirlpools, the deep, reflections of the starry night sky, and waterfalls all have their heydays in this epic pleasure of a glossy Hollywood film.

The story is an extensive, elaborate, complicated, extremely verbose one, and most adolescents and children prone to Disney films will often find themselves lost. That is no judgment on their intelligence, only on the expectations the writers have of their target audience. I, however, thought the story hardly left anything to be desired. The fantasy elements of the series are induced with great creativity, as opposed to many fantasy films, which usually tend to have stories that center around incidentally fantastical worlds, with invented creatures, completely objective goals like finding a ring that controls the fate of a race of beings. The Pirates films are actually heavy on plot, and in this third installment, the travel between this world and the afterlife in Davy Jones's Locker is cleverly done. The humor is also becoming more daring, with cynicism, and extreme dryness that is not R-rated, but gives off vibes as though it is.

Johnny Depp has become such a sizzling hot property, and since his nuclear burst of popularity in 2003 has widdled to a universal liking by all and a box office fueled by a stalker's obsession among angsty 13-year-old girls, that the filmmakers have become extremely self-conscious in their handling of Captain Jack Sparrow. I was impressed very much by his introduction in At World's End, which was very fresh and not so corny emerging from a coffin with his guns in his hands across his chest so that the audience can cheer. It brims with happy-go-lucky creativity, but the gimmick is carried too far by being continued and built upon in several scenes throughout the rest of the movie. But I won't deny that there are points where it gets interesting. If I'm being vague, it's because I don't want to spoil it.

One thing I'm definitely becoming concerned about is the amount of violence that's being allowed in Disney films. Smokin' Aces was released in January, and it was a mêlée of grinding, shrieking action violence complete with several gruesome shootouts and a couple of snippets of torture. It was rated R, and no, it was not released by Walt Disney Pictures, but by the standards being set by this film, which opens with a child amongst a line of condemned being prepared for hanging and has a surprisingly disturbing scene wherein Davy Jones's tentacles impale a single man's head through each orifice, it very well could be. During Smokin' Aces, or any other R-rated action film recently, I was not disturbed, and did not make an irksome face, at any violent scene, though several are shown and the body counts are high. In this PG-13-rated film, there were three sequences where I grimaced. Why would the violence be harder in a film designed for kids that is given a much more generous rating than a film designed for older people that is given a very standard rating that is given away like confetti at a parade? Anyway, the verdict is that it is one vastly entertaining epic ride where the characters, as they always are in the Pirates films, maintain an interesting and hairpin-turning arch throughout the series, and the performances by Depp and Geoffrey Rush are as charming as ever. This is coming from a film buff who begrudges billion-dollar franchises founded upon treating audiences like junkies who are so numb and disabled that all they are able to eat now is ice cream.

On par with Dead Man's Chest, not as good as the first part three still offers a very wild ride. The main problem, I have never had a harder time trying to keep up with so many double crosses and under the table deals as I did in this movie. Everyone had a hidden motive it seemed even Will Turner who in the last movie was just a trusting dupe. I can not believe no one seems to have the problems with this story as they did with Spidey 3 which I found very easy to follow. Add to that the fact that Captain Jack Sparrow, the sole character who made this series is not in it much and you have the disappointment of part two all over again. Granted it was not a huge disappointment, it was a good movie and it was great seeing Geoffrey Rusch back as Barbossa so it did get points for that. The story, this is going to be the hard part, however, I am keeping it as simple as possible. The gang is going in search for Jack, all with differing reasons. Jack is banished to Davey Jones locker and is going a bit crazy. There is a rescue and now there is a pirate meeting to attend, something about a song, a vengeful sea spirit named Calypso and various other obstacles leading to what I have to say is one heck of an action packed conclusion that is packed with great special effects. So there you have it, sure it could use a trimming of the run time as it goes on a while, but it still manages to entertain. I would have liked to see a simpler story though with a bit more comedy as there are some chuckle scenes, just nothing all that super funny like in the first. It was also surprising to see the villain from the last movie Davey Jones play basically a very small role till the very end during the uber action scene. Characters seemingly not all that important in the last film are now somewhat the focal point and you see Keith Richards in a small role as well. So as you can see there is a bit much going on and if there were a sequel to be made I say no Will or Elizabeth, bring back Barbossa, and have Jack Sparrow in it more and keep the plot more lighthearted and simple.

Less than a year after the previous installment of the popular pirates trilogy, Jack Sparrow and company return in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The film should be great, given a three hundred million dollar budget, huge anticipation, and the closure a third installment inevitably brings to a series. While this film does show its budget and is quite visually arresting, it lacks a fair share of resolution to the trilogy and confuses with its overflowing exposition rather than purely existing to entertain.

Even in an action packed pirate movie, overly chatty sequences will simply bore audiences just because it's too hard to follow what exactly is being said. The movie really just had too many vague or unnecessary plot points that didn't affect the main plot at hand.

All the acting was perfectly fine, with Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa unsurprisingly being the standouts. The introduction of Depp's character in the pirate equivalent of Hell called Davy Jones' Locker is a particular favorite, as well as the scenes at World's End, which somehow involves a giant, deep waterfall. Keith Richards' hyped cameo as Jack's father is nothing to go crazy for, he does a decent job, but his screen time lasts only about two minutes.

Director Gore Verbinski and his crew knew going into this that the reviews would be mixed and the plot would be confusing (in order to encourage repeat viewings), but honestly, at nearly three hours, the more the film confuses you the more it becomes an endurance test. Also, rather than providing a satisfying conclusion to the series, the end opens up the possibility for a fourth installment, which might not even happen. The crew put every penny of the film's budget on screen, made evident in the hour or so of its bloated climax. The film looks and feels like a true epic, shots are wide, locations are vast, costumes are extravagant, and the scope is large. However, the film needs to scale down its plot in order to let the characters we fell in love with stand out and shine, as that's what makes these films unique.

I will say I absolutely loved Curse of the Black Pearl, it's one of my all-time favourite movies. Dead Mens Chest was enjoyable and lively, if overlong. At World's End is certainly not a terrible film, far from it, I just found it rather disappointing that's all, plot-wise being the least remarkable of the three films. I will say there is a lot to recommend it, namely the art direction, and the special effects weren't too bad either. The cinematography was impressive, there is some lovely period detail and I thought there were some very well staged battle sequences. The music by Hans Zimmer, one of my favourite film composers, was outstanding, very rousing and dramatic. And the performances weren't so bad either- Jack Sparrow is still the lovable rogue we have come to know and love, and Johnny Depp played him marvellously. A very talented actor, Geoffrey Rush, sinks his teeth into the part of Captain Barbosa, I particularly loved the line, "I'm a bit busy at the moment." And Bill Nighy was delightfully villainous as Davy Jones. However, the film does have flaws that prevents it from being the rollicking film it had the potential of being. The plot did take a while to get going, and sometimes became unfocused and convoluted, like Elizabeth and Will declaring their wedding vows in the middle of a big fight. Also there are a lot of characters, and one or two of them served no real purpose to the plot, and a lot was crammed into the long running time, so at the end of the day, it felt a bit bloated. The script was full of existing jokes, not necessarily a bad thing, but overall it lacked freshness, and the humour and fun, that made me love the first film so much. Overall, it is certain performances, fantastic music and some well-staged battles that salvage an otherwise bloated and disappointing second sequel. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Once you start downhill, it's difficult to halt the momentum. So to apply this metaphor to the world of cinema, once a film franchise delivers a poor entry, it's almost impossible to not deliver poor ones from then on out. So, imagine the surprise when, after the lackluster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, that screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio and director Gore Verbinski are able to deliver a superior third entry in the Pirates series with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It is hardly perfect, still far too long and lacking in emotional depth, but for a summer spectacle, it still manages to deliver the goods to a degree.

At World's End opens not long after Dead Man's Chest, with Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly) joining forces with recently resurrected Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from Davy Jones' locker, where he was dragged to by the Kraken at the conclusion of the last film. While they are on their way to the afterlife, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), has exerted his influence over Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and is using him to bring the pirates of the world to their knees. With their very existence on the line, the pirate lords meet to discuss the possibility of joining forces to combat Beckett, but since these are pirates, there is a wide variety of skullduggery and backstabbing to be had.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is rife with dazzling visuals. As with both previous films, At World's End has spent it's almost-certainly astronomical budget on what actually goes on the screen. The sets, costumes, and stunning visual effects are impressive, to say the least. You might be excused for actually believing that what you are seeing is real at times, not just movie trickery. The make-up artists have also once again proved that they can be the go to guys for the creation of unappealing looking characters, as almost no one in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End looks like they have taken a bath or brushed their teeth, well, ever, which, in this case, seems to work for the film. If you want to see a visually spectacular motion picture, especially on the big screen, you need look no further than At World's End.

On the other hand, if you are interested in depth to go along with the glittery outside, then At World's End will prove to be somewhat lacking, although not nearly as much as Dead Man's Chest. The key problem to this film is that the characters are underdeveloped. Most of what makes them up is played out again without much added to the proceedings from the previous entries: Jack wants everything for himself, Barbossa wants what Jacks wants also, Will wants Elizabeth and Elizabeth wants, seemingly, to be a pirate. Frankly, it's a bit sad that the character with one of the best emotional arcs in the film is one of its villains, Davy Jones, who has an almost touching degree of pathos added to him thanks to a scene about halfway through the film. Perhaps it is the film's never ending attempt to keep the audience uncertain where the various characters loyalties lie that also works against the audiences' identification with almost anyone. When it seems that everyone is out only for themselves, it's hard to work up much enthusiasm for them.

The film's cardinal sin, as has been the case with every Pirates entry thus far, is its bloated length. At World's End does not have nearly the lopsided running time to substance ratio that Dead Man's Chest did, but it still overstays it's welcome. Much like fellow summer blockbuster Spider-Man 3, the filmmakers seem to believe that bigger is better, and that is sometimes just not the case. In the film's defense, there is quite of bit of plot to fill the minutes, but it could have still been trimmed back to some degree while maintaining, and perhaps even increasing, the entertainment value.

That being said, At World's End still manages a few surprises, and the ending does pay off much of what has gone before, and even though the "love" between Elizabeth and Will seems almost non-existent, a key scene at the end on a beach does manage to be effective. The actors also generally deliver once again. Johnny Depp is entertaining as ever as Jack Sparrow, although he finds the screen time a bit split amongst the various other characters this outing. Depp seems to be having a good time in the role, and it's hard to not understand his public statements that he would be willing to go more rounds as the character. Rush is also effective as Barbossa and Keira Knightley shows a bit more energy than in the last entry, as does Orlando Bloom in the part of Will.

So, what began as a seemingly bad idea (a Disney theme park ride turned into a summer film) has concluded three films later with one of biggest displays of blockbuster film-making, in terms of scope, as has been seen in recent years. That the spectacle isn't quite in service of an appropriate amount of core material is disappointing, but Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is hardly a loss. It provides a decent amount of entertainment, buckets of eye candy and a good laugh here and there. While filmmakers should perhaps aspire to more, what they manage deliver isn't half bad. I suppose that might sound like damning with faint praise, but you just have to call them as you see them.

Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) go to Singapore to get a ship and crew with the despicable Captain Sao Feng (Chow-Yun Fat) to rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the land of the dead. After many betrayals and deals, they summon the nine pirate Captains to gather in the Brethren Court with the intention to release the goddess Calypso from her human body of Tia Delma (Naomie Harris) and face the powerful Davey Jones (Bill Nighy) and Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander).

The third part of "Pirates of the Caribbean" is another great, pleasant and funny entertainment. The story if full of action, treacheries and twists, many hilarious scenes and there is a greater participation of Elizabeth, Will, Barbossa and Davey Jones. Johnny Depp is fantastic again in the best character of his great career, Jack Sparrow. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Piratas do Caribe: No Fim do Mundo" ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End")

Rather than a third film, At World's End is more of a second part to the second film, and it improves upon its already impressive predecessor. This is all you could ask for in a pirate film.

Entertaining for children yes, with all the action and funny moments, but it's only now as an adult I appreciated how much depth there was to the story. The narrative can be complex and at times you need to do a mental check to make sure you know where everyone's allegiances lay and who's motive is what, but it all comes together so nicely.

Although technically playing 'secondary' characters, Rush and Nighy are the real stars of the film, playing Barbossa and Davy Jones, respectively. Given apt dialogue their characters shine. Bloom and Knightley can perhaps grate you with their interactions, through no fault of their own. The love interest would have been sufficiently encapsulated with the connection between Jones and Calypso, a beautiful bond being shown, and so the Swann-Turner dynamic, although relevant to the previous films, was just a touch too 'Disney'.

The story is brilliant, script perfect, acting done well, visually superb, soundtrack on good form, and overall an excellent end to the 'original' trilogy. Can't ask for too much more.

Another basically incomprehensible plot, beginning with the Brethren Court in Singapore, punctuated by some great special effects (Davy Jones and his crew above all) and madcap action to keep it interesting, especially for the kiddos. The scenes which appealed to them the most: Jack and his many other Jacks captive on the seas of sand in Davy Jones' locker; Calypso growing into a giantess and then turning into thousands of crabs; and, most of all, the final sea battle in the midst of the storm and the whirlpool. Not a very satisfying ending to Will and Elizabeth's sub-story, which ends in this movie, and their absence from the fourth and the fifth movies makes those considerably less appealing.

I should also say that my kiddos love (and are terrified by) the talking skull and crossbones at the main menu of the first three pirates movies - it addresses the audience directly, which is a nice touch. It's things like these that give these movies their overall sense of adventure.

Who would've thought that a Jerry Bruckheimer film production of a Walt Disney theme park ride would end up being the most consistently entertaining and subversive film franchise of recent memory? Director Gore Verbinski and the bloated cast headed up by a hilarious Johnny Depp are all back for the rollicking "closing" of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy.

Following the mantra of its predecessor (bigger, better, more), everything here attempts to one-up what has been seen before. With the exception of the sight gags (which are smaller and more plentiful in "At World's End" but nothing like the mind-boggling giant wheel or log-rolling scenes from "Dead Man's Chest"), everything else is more, more, more. There's more characters (most notably Chow Yun Fat as the leader of a Singapore pirate gang), more plot (the double-crossings are so numerous as to make your head spin), more elaborate and wildly imaginative action set pieces and special effects (the boat flipping scene is especially good), more monkey and midget action, more jokes, more cameos (witness a seemingly un-made-up Keith Richards as Captain Teague), and most thankfully more macabre gallows humor and absurdity.

Gore Verbinski has become a master of the modern action-adventure movie, finely tuning his skills here to rival an early era Steven Spielberg in his sense of visual scope. With these three films he is now an expert in the cadence of integrating computer effects with massive live stunts across sprawling set pieces. He truly deserves accolades for managing to get every character in on the action in the dazzling climactic battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman in the middle of a giant maelstrom. There's also one amazing scene of the British Captain going down with his ship as it is cannon-balled into oblivion that in a more serious film would seem quite epic, but in the refreshing silliness of this series is just one more over-the-top element subverting the traditional tone of the Hollywood spectacle.

"At World's End" provides more fun bang for your buck than any "third" in a series since "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." It made me feel like a kid again, but being so insanely indebted to the concept of "MORE" imagining the series continuing into a fourth installment would be truly gluttonous.

It was very disappointing.

I adored the first movie to pieces. I own the DVD and regularly play it on movie nights with my friends. It's great unexpected fun, quotable, and a visual spectacle. The characters are surprisingly likable, and Depp comes roaring in like a breath of fresh air as Capt. Jack.

The problem with the third movie (as well as the second) is that it lost touch with it's roots. The first movie, while heavy with the supernatural stuff, was still pretty grounded in a fairly accurate real world. The characters were over the top, yes, but still believable, and above all, relatable. Their motives and predicaments all made a great deal of sense (i.e. Elizabeth wanting to marry Will, Barbossa wanting to be free of the curse, Jack simply wanting to get a boat so he could live his life of freedom). Unfortunately, in the new movies, the writers have lost touch with the first movie's charm. The plots are so convoluted it's difficult to decipher, much less remember, a character's desires and motives. It's much less emotionally grounded. It has also become so thick into this supernatural fantasy land that it has hardly any link to the real world at all. This would not have been a problem were the filmmakers not so intent on special effects and visual spectacles that they forgot to tell a good, solid story.

I believe this movie would have been better if the writers had kept to a more straightforward plot and toned down much of the "grand spectacle" stuff which really dominated the movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is the third and last of the money spinning trilogy, or so they say. Everything has led to this, or so they say again and I kept my mind opened. The first of the Pirates series, The Curse of the Black Pearl was good. It was a movie out of nothing or more correctly a movie inspired by nothing more than a Disney theme park ride. Having said that however the creation of Captain Jack Sparrow was nothing short of inspirational. Captain Jack played by the charismatic Johnny Depp became the talisman of Pirates of the Caribbean. Thought to be dead when we saw him charging into the jaws of monster octopus Kraken toward the end of Dead Man's Chest (the sequel), he is to be brought back from the dead in this latest film.

I have to be honest; I hated Dead Man's Chest. Its various plots and subplots were terribly tangled and confusing. It was hard to follow what sort of story or motives the movie wants to say. I blamed my lack of understanding for not comprehending Dead Man's Chest. That was summer of last year but since then I have done my research, for the billion dollars making movie was to have a third installment. Having seen one and two, I have to see three. But if I do not understand two then how can I go ahead with three. And so after a better understanding of two I saw three. You should know this. For all my efforts I was still robbed by the pirates.

I was led happily out into the open sea before being robbed. I was enjoying the first third of the 168 minutes film. Captain Jack's crew arrived in Singapore to look for Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fatt), pirate lord of the South China Sea for a ship and a map, so they could sail to world's end and rescue our favourite captain from Davy Jones's Locker. Davy Jones's Locker is a ghost realm of the netherworld where the dead Captain Jack Sparrow is being kept for eternity.

There appears to be some oriental influence in At World's End. Firstly of course we are introduced to a Chinese pirate, Captain Sao Feng. Secondly, the costumes and all were very well designed in an exquisite oriental fashion. And there was Singapore, a South East Asian country where Captain Sao Feng can be found.

The Singapore set features a bathhouse and I couldn't help relating it to Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. The popular animated film, released by Disney in the west has a bathhouse theme. The relation did not stop there, and I wondered if the scene where Captain Jack Sparrow is isolated in Davy Jones's Locker was inspired too by Hayao Miyazaki's work. The part where thousands of strange and curious yet harmless rounded stone-like crab helping Jack move his ship, The Black Pearl across a desert aroused my attention to this perspective. It was through the hands, eyes and imagination of the acclaimed animation master, Hayao Miyazaki that made famous the approach of detailing stories with thousands of mini little intriguing creatures. And it was fun to watch.

I was enjoying At World's End, laughing merrily at all the pirate jokes that the characters are lashing out at one another, feeling the thrill of the sword-fights and of course attracted to the sometimes witty, looney and mad character of Captain Jack Sparrow. That scene of him engaging himself to his many different personalities while alone in the deserted Davy Jones's Locker is a real gem.

But with all the oriental influences, the filmmakers probably did not take note of the teachings of Zen, where less is truly more. For when after the crew rescued Captain Jack Sparrow and brought him back to the mortal world, it all happened again. The tangling and confusing plots and subplots manifested once more and killed whatever is good about the film. In my opinion, if At World's End had ended after rescuing Captain Jack and had a straight approach in the gathering of forces to deal with Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) with a fitting spectacle of a finale fight, the film would have been great.

I was trying to understand the story. In reflection I probably should not for it amounted to nothing. It just isn't worth it. It would be tiring for me just to list them all out. So just be warned that in the film, every character have their own personal agenda. It is "me" first and "you" later if "you" are still there. If that is the purpose of the story-writers to represent the meaning of how pirates are, then they have succeeded. In fact it was so successful that they lost me.

It bored me so much I no longer laughed at the jokes. It dragged on so long I no longer felt compelled to see the ending. I just want the film to end there and then. Enough was enough.

"Take whatever you can and give nothing back." Thanks a billion, filmmakers, or is it thanks me instead?

This entire Pirate series is like a ride on a pirate ship in a theme park, it was thrilling for a start but as it swing back and forth too many times the nauseas will come and when it stops you find yourself displaced nowhere.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a fine example of a good film gone bad because it had too many tangling tales to tell. I maintain that it is worth watching for the first third of the film but save yourself from seasickness in the middle just so you can enjoy the spectacular fight sequence toward the end.