The Magical World Of Disney #336: Top 100 Disney Movies, Part 6

90. Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 American fantasy swashbuckler film directed by Gore Verbinski and the first film in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, the film is based on Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney theme parks. The story follows pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) as they rescue the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, captained by Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who become undead skeletons at night.

Jay Wolpert developed a script in 2001, and Stuart Beattie rewrote it in early 2002. Around that time, producer Jerry Bruckheimer became involved in the project; he had Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio work on the script, adding the plot device of a supernatural curse to the story to bring it in line with the original theme park ride. Filming took place from October 2002 to March 2003 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and on sets constructed around Los Angeles, California. It was also significant in being the first film released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to be rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

The film’s world premiere was held at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California on June 28, 2003. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was an unexpected success, grossing over $654 million worldwide, with many considering it to be the best entry in the series. Johnny Depp won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The Curse of the Black Pearl was also nominated for four other Academy Awards and BAFTAs. The film became the first in a franchise, with two back-to-back sequels, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, released in 2006 and 2007. Two more sequels, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales, were released in 2011 and 2017 respectively.

Pirates Of The Caribbean, a lot of people forget back in 2003, was a big risk for Disney at that point. Nowadays, when Disney makes a bomb, it hurts for a little bit but then a Marvel, Pixar, or Star Wars film comes around, makes billions for the studio and everything is all fine and dandy.

In 2003, that wasn’t the case, Disney still was susceptible to financial disasters and box office bombs, especially with some of their 2D animated movies at the time. Yeah, that summer, Disney had Finding Nemo to piggyback on if this failed but yeah, a $140 million budgeted film in 2003, even Disney isn’t safe from failure all the time.

On top of that, it was Disney’s first PG-13 rated feature. One executive noted that she found the film too intense for her five-year-old child. Nonetheless, the studio was confident enough to add The Curse of the Black Pearl subtitle to the film in case sequels were made, and to attract older children. Verbinski disliked the new title because it is the Aztec gold rather than the ship that is cursed, so he requested the title to be unreadable on the poster.

And lastly, the biggest caveat of all, many expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a flop. The pirate genre had not been successful for years, with Cutthroat Island (1995) being a notable flop. The film was also based on a theme park ride, and Depp, known mostly for starring in cult films at the time, had little track record as a box office leading man.

So, there were a lot of big things going against the film going into it. Nevertheless, the film defied expectations, became a monster hit making over $654 million worldwide, and even got some awards recognition including Johnny Depp getting a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards.

As The Curse Of The Black Pearl movie itself goes, it’s overall all right, it’s a fun adventure film that has some impressive visuals that still hold up today, the action can be really solid, the script is well done and Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is the real highlight of the film, every time he’s on screen, he breathes a lot of charisma and charm to his role and this was back when Depp still had what it takes to entertain.

An overall fun adventure film, certainly the only really good Pirates Of The Caribbean movie that I like as most of the sequels don’t live up to the enjoyment factor of this film.

89. The Rookie (2002)

The Rookie is a 2002 American sports drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the true story of Jim Morris who debuted in Major League Baseball at age 35. The film stars Dennis Quaid as Morris, alongside Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez, Angus T. Jones, and Brian Cox.

Jim Morris is a Texas high school chemistry teacher and coach of the school’s baseball team. He’s always loved baseball and as a way of motivating his players, he agrees to go to a professional try-out if they win the championship. He once had aspirations to be a professional baseball player but an injury brought that to an end. Sure enough, the 39 year-old father of three finds himself at a camp for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and he somehow seems to have regained his pitching arm, easily throwing a 98 mph fastball. Signed to a contract, he toils in the minor leagues while his supportive wife stays home raising their children. He soon finds himself called up to the big club and pitching for Tampa which is in Texas playing the Rangers. Based on a true story.

Kind of falls into the typical sports drama format but with that said, the performance by the cast led by Dennis Quaid along with a very entertaining and heartfelt story that doesn’t force the emotions on you and makes for a very enjoyable movie.

#100 & #99

#98 & #97

#96 & #95

#94 & #93

#92 & #91

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