Official Opinion: “Better than the second, not as good at the first.”
WARNING: SPOILERS ARE IN THIS POST!
First off, I was peeved with the ending; however, things that weren’t explained in Dead Man’s Chest were explained in this movie.
I found Dead Man’s Chest hard to follow because in Curse of the Black Pearl, the plot line was very straight forward and the pirate-lore was low. Then Dead Man’s Chest blew everything out of proportion with Davy Jones and Bootstrap Bill, and you had to keep up.
I felt that At World’s End really clarified those loose ends (such as resurrecting Barbossa) that Dead Man’s Chest left hanging. In this one, although they left Jack in the same place he began (sort of) it felt like the story had come to a decisive end.
For the record – I wholeheartedly disagree to Will replacing Davy Jones because Jack Sparrow was supposed to be the immortal one.
I was glad that the jokes went back to normal – but they may have played on Curse of the Black Pearl jokes a little too much. For example – the guards who were guarding The Dauntless during the ceremonies had to guard Davy Jones’ heart… and then Johnny talked his way around them. Although I loved that those two became pirates afterwards.
And I’m really glad they went back to regular-piratey fight scenes – swinging from ship to ship and flying in the sails (although it is a little bit unrealistic) it’s not AS unrealistic as a giant wheel rolling through the forest and three people maintaining a sword fight. *ahem*DeadMan’sChest*ahem*
I was peeved that mom rushed out of the theatre as soon as the first credit for Gore came on – I wanted to watch the credits and wait for the extra scene. Craig and I will wait till the end of the credits in the summer. I can’t remember why I did it the first time for Curse of the Black Pearl, but I remember seeing the extra scene and going hahahah awesome. So we did for Dead Man’s Chest… but because it was opening weekend and mother reeeally needed the bathroom after the 169 minute movie I’ll have to wait until the summer to see the extra scene. (But my sister told me that it’s Will returning after his first 10 years at sea… she saw it in German!)
Overall, I’m satisfied with At World’s End. The return of Barbossa was necessary. I liked the tension between Will and Elizabeth – it was a nice change. The separate agendas of all the characters was reminiscent of the first movie and a really good dimension of the plot: leverage.
The nine pieces of eight joke was hilarious… oh Gibbs. The only thing I didn’t understand is how long ago the First Meeting of the Nine Pirate Lords was… are they all immortal? Or was it like 20 years ago? Although explaining the whole Davy Jones/Calypso thing totally made Davy Jones make more sense.