"Do you think he plans it all out or just makes it up as he goes along? " asks one of the officers of the British naval fleet to his commander,Lord Beckett,when Captain Jack Sparrow has made yet another spectacular getaway from their clutches.
I guess we could pose the same question to Mr.Verbinski and his writers.

First they take an obscure theme park ride and make it into a movie.'The Curse of the black pearl' was wonderfully crafted and had us all gushing in awe.
And although 'The Curse of the black pearl' hardly suggested any possibility of a sequel,we soon found ourselves in a tantalising wait for 'Dead man's chest'...and that sequel ended, telling us to wait for 'At World's End'..and it would seem the trilogy is over but there's a suggestion of the quest for the Fountain of youth in a 4th installment.Making it up as they go along?Very much so, I believe.

We loved the swashbuckling, rip-roaring action of 'The Curse of the Black pearl'.I was initially surprised that Depp agreed to be part of such a franchise but then the moment we saw Captain Jack Sparrow we knew why.We all fell in love with him as he mesmerized us with his antics.
What magic he weaved with his kohl lined eyes,his funny stupor,slurry speech and wit.He didn't disappoint in 'Dead man's chest' either.
But sadly all that magic seems to have almost worn off with the third installment,although the theater did erupt when he makes his first appearance,this time in a delightful sequence where he hallucinates and sees himself commanding the Black pearl as captain and.....the entire crew,in a deserted island which is supposed to be Davy Jones locker,where he is paying his debt to Jones.
Meanwhile, on their way to rescue him and bring him back to the world are Elizabeth,Will and Barbossa along with a borrowed crew from Sao Feng(Chow Yun Fat,mindlessly wasted as the pirate captain from Singapore made to play a theatrical and caricature-ish old school 'heavy').
Bill Nighy reprises his role as Davy Jones and we learn that his love is none other than Calypso whom we first saw in part 2 and now with his heart captured by Beckett who, on a ruthless mission to wipe out all pirates, commands Jones and his Flying Dutchman to decimate all pirate ships on the high seas.
The Brethren court with the major pirate lords from all over the world convene to strategize their move against Beckett's forces and in a strange twist of sequences, Elizabeth Swann is made pirate king.This just after she's been made Captain of Sao Feng's crew.Talk about women's empowerment!!!
Will Turner is one confused lad in this lot and keeps swinging sides and is totally off balance.He does get to do his usual "unhand the woman" routine again though.
About ms.Swann,Keira knightley is as ravishing as ever and everything she does onscreen is breathtaking,hell,she just has to be in the frame.You just cant take your eyes off her for one second.

But,the trouble with Pirates 3 is that too many people have too many things to do and the canvas perhaps isn't quite large or strong enough enough to permit that to happen seamlessly.
It appears that they'd shot more and in an effort to curtail the running time the editing seems to have gone for a toss.
And it still does appear drawn out compared to hollywood standards, stretching for about 2 hrs 45 minutes.
There are passages of long drawn out dialogues and then suddenly the scene cuts to someplace where there's frenetic action happening.And this cycle just repeats itself till the end.
One other problem was, I was kept waiting for the piece de resistance....those one or two spectacular sequences which we found and marveled at in the earlier installments but in this one it never quite comes.Well, there is this wonderful scene where an army of crabs help Jack get his beloved Black Pearl back on water but apart from that the film doesn't have any fireworks.
There's one hilarious scene with the Goddess Calypso being freed from her human form and my mind screamed "attack of the 50 foot woman".
And there's probably one of the most hilarious marriage proposals and wedding vows exchanged that we have ever seen in movies.Will finally pops the question to Elizabeth and Barbosa acts as the minister,whilst the 3 of them are battling Davy Jones' minions!!!
And there are a few scenes where Sparrow and Barbosa play a game of one-upmanship to appear the better captain but at times it did appear juvenile to watch.
Ever since I heard Keith Richards was to appear in one of the sequels I wanted to keep an eye out for him and he finally makes his appearance with a bang, literally, as Jack's daddy-o.
Ironically his introduction scene has him demanding that the pirates stick to the rules and even pops out the pirates rule book.Keith Richards, the eternal outlaw and rebel as a stickler for rules?now,thats a scream surely!!! We then see him grab a guitar and he lets his fingers weave some magic only to violently snap a string when someone ridicules the rules again.
Short role though and perhaps they coulda had more of him,but I guess they were already struggling to juggle the subplots involving the lead characters there was no possible way that Richards could have gotten more screen time.
The rest of the film has the the usual suspects....
Gorgeous,breathtaking locales heightened by wonderful cinematography;
The British armada chasing the motley crew of pirates from different quarters...who unite despite their differences;
Barbosa trying to covet the Black Pearl;
Will and Elizabeth as on again off again lovers;
Will trying to free his father Bootstrap Bill from Davy Jones;
Davy Jones still bluesy about his lost love and the others after his heart for control of the seas and the might of the Flying Dutchman;
And the usual witty one liners and double-entendres are there in place but never quite make up for the lackof zest in the rest of the screenplay.
Barbosa is probably the only one still in fine form and I guess we can always expect a master class from Geoffrey Rush.
Sparrow,after carrying off part 1 and 2 with consummate ease and fervor, has probably got lost in the crowd this time around and I expect him to redeem himself in the next installment, if at all there is one.

Verbinski, for once seems to have lost grasp of his main strengths and perhaps tries too much to salvage a sinking ship, one that even Jack Sparrow can't salvage.And fittingly the movie ends with Sparrow in a dingy little boat in pursuit of the Black Pearl which Barbosa has coveted again.
Well if I were to analogize the 3 parts, the 1st was as brilliant and bewitching as the Black Pearl.The 2nd was fantastic and had as much ferocity as the Flying Dutchman.
The 3rd however is just that dingy little boat which pretends to be both the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman at the same time but sadly oblivious to the fact that its probably been sailing a fools voyage.A voyage we could have done without.