Pirate expert Iszi Lawrence reviews , awarding high points to Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow. Released in 2003, Gore Verbinski's first movie brings the Disney ride to life to great effect, kick-starting a franchise that would go on to make over $4.5 billion at the box office. Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, a clever, swashbuckling pirate, is a key figure in all the films, undertaking a variety of adventures across the high seas.
Now, in a new video from on YouTube, Lawrence analyzes the movie for its historical accuracy.
As Lawrence points out in the video above, there's a lot that the film gets wrong in terms of real pirates and other aspects of 18th century life, but she does praise Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow. Check out selections of Lawrence's commentary for various scenes in the film below:
“Nobody was branded a pirate but, you know, whatever. People were branded. If you’re clergy and you got arrested for something you could be branded, but then you couldn’t plead clergy again. [Jack Sparrow’s] line here, ’But you have heard of me,’ is wonderful. That’s what you wanted as a pirate. You wanted your name to precede you so people would give up before fighting you.
“For whatever reason the cuffs that they put on [Captain Jack Sparrow] are obviously leg irons because they’ve got enough room to move his hands, which is a weird thing.
“Now this thing about pirate code and parley is pretty much nonsense. Yes, there are pirates codes, there are many pirates cods. Every pirate ship has its own code. Pirate code is real, but this sort of universal brethren of pirates where they all follow the same rules – not real.
“[Captain Barbossa] has a monkey there. The French, I believe introduced a lot of monkeys into the Caribbean because they used to be very fashionable pets… But monkeys need a lot of water and so keeping them onboard ships is not a good idea. You’re much better off with a parrot.
“Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow as the sort of cool rock star is bang on because pirates were seen by the general populace as incredibly cool and sexy. The Golden Age of Piracy was really, in my opinion, sort of like 1715 to 1722, something like that. A General History of the Pyrates came out like in 1724 so everybody was talking about pirates.
“They were seen as so cool. They were breaking all the rules. These were men without blood right acting like lords. Loads of people wanted to be pirates. They were living a life which nobody dared to live and literally seizing their freedom and just going for it.
“They weren’t servants of a government anymore or of companies who wanted to make money and of the sort of general grind of being a commoner. When you were you pirate, you were basically going, ‘Okay, I’m not going to live long. I’m going to have a short bloody life and it will be a very good one.’”
There was initially skepticism that a movie about the Walt Disney World attraction would be a hit. There was, after all, not much of a story to speak of associated with the ride. When the film was released, however, Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow was a major highlight. He brought humor to the world and was instantly a pirate worth rooting for.
To balance out the idiosyncrasy of Depp's performance, the first movie also very smartly introduces and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner. The inclusion of these two more grounded characters gives the film an emotional center that would continue to play out and evolve over sequels and .
Unfortunately, however, the two most recent installments of the franchise prove that Depp's Jack Sparrow may not be enough to carry the franchise. Without the emotional core of previous movies and with stories that just aren't as compelling, and largely fall flat, despite Depp's inclusion. With Disney seemingly open to following his recent legal troubles, it's possible that a new entry in the franchise will recapture what made such a hit.
Source: / YouTube
