Ahoy! It's a pirate's life for me!

From time to time, I feel like it's necessary to share my views on the movie spectrum. But I'm so happy to say that it's FINALLY the start of the summer blockbuster season, which is my favorite season all year!

There are many movies to look forward too this summer and something to fit even the most pickiest of movie critics. I am not overly picky when it comes to movies. Of course my favorite genre are musicals, especially anything filmed before the 1970s. While I truly believe that Hollywood has lost most of its originality, I still find most of today's movies enjoyable, although not memorable. Long gone are the days of Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Today, Hollywood is run by media conglomerates like Disney and Turner, who as one friend put it are "more interested in the merchandising opportunities."  But I do believe that despite the loss of creativity over the past 50+ years that new classics can be made. Movies that my children will someday look back on and be like, "Mom, look at those awful special effects."

I am of the opinion that Pirates of the Caribbean is one of those classics. However, let me make very clear that I mean only the very first one. I recently saw the 4th one in theaters and although I believe Johnny Depp cannot make a bad movie, the movie was definitely lacking in certain areas. Mostly the plot. However, I will not ramble on. Let's just say, that Johnny Depp did a fabulous job as Captain Jack Sparrow (let us not forget that he is a captain... he mentions it only 1,000 times in the movie). However, the movie is not worth the $10 I paid, which disappointed me, but it's better than 2 and 3 (both of which were terrible).

However, the original POTC is a fun, campy pirate movie that most audiences and critics loved. Johnny Depp catapulted himself into the legend books as the crazy but brilliant Captain Jack Sparrow. His character was so outrageous and original that you couldn't help but like him. You spend half the movie believing he's drunk all the time and the other half believing he's a brilliant mastermind who despite claiming to be a pirate is truly good-hearted. Johnny Depp earned himself an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role as Jack and I must add I was very sad he didn't win. His performance remains one of the finest that I have ever seen.

The thing I believe that makes POTC a true Hollywood classic is the simplicity of the plot line. Depp runs around in the Caribbean trying to get back his beloved ship from his traitorous first mate and crew. He's helped by the innocent and smitten Orlando Bloom, who's only motivation is to save the girl of his dreams. Nothing more, nothing less. Keira Knightley plays the girl who must choose between her status and love. And Geoffrey Rush plays a gnarly and sinister villian, who is surprisingly human. He just wants to eat his apple.

The acting of Knightley and Bloom is a little over the top occasionally but they are supported by the outstanding performances by the rest of the cast. Also at the time, no one had really come out with a memorable pirate movie. Pirate movies are incredibly difficult to pull off because we have immortalized them as being free spirits who are only motivated by greed. But the writers at Disney looked at that and change the whole model. You actually sat down and rooted for them to win against the evil British Empire.

You wanted Bloom to give in to the "dark" side. You wanted Knightley to run off with the him after he embraced it. And like any classic Hollywood movie, you sympathized with the bad guys (i.e. Darth Vader). And you truly believed that Jack knew what he was doing the whole time.

I am very sad that they came back and ruined the sequels. They could have done so well but the writers made the plot lines too complicated with too many back stories. By the end of the 3rd movie, I was seriously hoping that either Knightley and Bloom would just get married or one of them would die. That plot line was so weighted down by their mediocre performances and bad plot lines that it dragged the movies down with them.

Oh and before I forget... POTC has one other thing that makes it a classic. Great music. Look at what we now consider classics... Star Wars, The Godfather, Psycho, even the Wizard of Oz all have memorable music. Making the music memorable, makes the movie memorable. A catchy melody is going to stick with movie-goers for a long time. And that's why I believe it's a pirates life for me...