The Reel Rejects - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003) IS A THRILL RIDE!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

YOU BEST START BELIEVING IN GHOST STORIES, MS TURNER!! Pirates Of The Caribbean Full Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Become A Righteous Reject Reject By Grabbing RR Apparel: https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Reaction, Recap, Commentary, Analysis, & Spoiler Review! Tara Erickson & Aaron Alexander dive into the swashbuckling adventure that launched a legendary franchise—Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl! We break down the unforgettable characters: Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow (Edward Scissorhands, Fantastic Beasts), Orlando Bloom as Will Turner (The Lord of the Rings), Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann (Pride & Prejudice), Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa (The King's Speech), Jack Davenport as Norrington (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Jonathan Pryce as Governor Swann (The Two Popes), Lee Arenberg as Pintel (Once Upon A Time), Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti (Game of Thrones), Kevin McNally as Gibbs (Turn: Washington’s Spies), and Zoe Saldana as Anamaria (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy). We cover iconic moments like Jack Sparrow’s epic entrance on the sinking boat, the moonlight skeletal battle revealing Barbossa’s curse, the “But why is the rum gone?” scene, the thrilling sword fights, and Jack’s legendary line “This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!” We tie in the entire Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, On Stranger Tides, Dead Men Tell No Tales, plus the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean reboot in development. This is a deep dive into what made this movie a pop culture phenomenon, packed with analysis, commentary, and YouTube search terms like “Pirates of the Caribbean sword fight,” “Jack Sparrow funny moments,” “Curse of the Black Pearl ending explained,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean moonlight fight.” This one’s a treasure trove for movie fans! Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Yeah. Okay, if you're listening to us an app or Spotify, please give us a five-star rating. Five of them. Like, comment. Subscribe when you do ring the bell, ring the bell. And again, if you have not joined our Patreon, that, is where you get access to send us questions in advance. So we are going to look up the Patreon real quick.

You, yeah, if you're a Patreon, you get access to a week in advance our shooting schedule. So you get to send us questions. So we'll start with the patrons questions. The first one is from K-sweets. The Moonlit Cave scene between Jack and Barbosa is one of my favorite fight scenes in any live action movie, the reveal, the choreography, the editing, the cinematography, the score. Everything about that scene is perfect.

Why do you think the creative fight scenes like this or in movies such as the Kingsman and Bullet Train are more rare? Or what is hard to capture that makes these scenes so good? That's a great question. I think just the kinetic energy of them is something that's hard to capture, but also the fact that it was so fluid between, you know, know, them going between the cursed selves and their actual flesh and bone selves. I thought that stuff was really, really impressive.

Yeah, that's a genuinely great question. I don't know fully, but I think that, you know, allowing the stunts to fully breathe and pulling out so we can see the action, also showing the transition between them as that action is happening in such a fluid state, I think also makes that really engaging to watch. like just full transparency i i love the movie i'm not going to bear the lead on that but i think the first scene where we see jack sparrow and will turner fighting though i thought it was really good for their characters i didn't love the the cutting the quick cutting and the closeness of that that fight but the fight in the end were showing barbadoes and jack fighting and they're going up

the cave and down and all around i thought that stuff was really engaging to watch um but yeah i I think the energy of that scene is really powerful. I think they're more rare because it's like it's really hard to do. I mean, more specifically with this one, it's the first probably fight scene where they're pitching an idea where it's like, well, when they're in the moonlight, we have to show them as a skeleton. And when they're not, they come back to human and it can't look dumb. So they did a really good job with that.

I mean, obviously, that comes down to choreography and editing. you really do have to cut at the right spots to make it look good and make it feel as energetic as the score because you put score in like capital letters. But before you can do that, you do need a director and a DP to know the shots they're getting and where that first shot is going to lead into the second shot, you already have a storyboard in your mind.

I think that having like the fight scene like this And like you said, Kingsman, bullet train. I don't know if I've seen it. But I think they're more rare, I think just because it's hard, honestly. There wasn't as many, like, long tracking shots that I wanted in the fight scenes. There was moments where I wanted them to stay on certain things a little bit longer. Yeah, same. But overall, I mean, the editing was still great.

And I just think that it's just difficult And you need a big budget for it Because you don't just do like Oh, we're rehearsed today, great, we've got it, let's roll It takes a long time It takes a lot of money You have to go to rehearsals for a while So I think that's probably why

All right, next question is from Gareth Youhoo, Métis Jack told everyone he escaped this marooning By using sea turtles I want to hear your most imaginative way You tell everyone you escape the island And thanks, guys. Looking forward to watching your epic series with you.

Heart, thank you so much, Gareth. Hmm. C. Tatosa? Sea turtles was pretty inventive. Okay. I would throw rocks at the birds. I'd throw rocks at the birds until I fell down. And then I would collect an abundance of birds.

And then I would use them to make one big bird for, or I guess two big wings. And I would fly and fly a flap off. I'm sorry that the birds had to perish in my. pursuits to escape but a man has to escape the way he needs to escape and I would fly you know I would use them to sail away from this place that's a little dark but that's he's just out there he's out there killing all of the birds is his escape plan which I do not agree with okay now listen on that island there was barrels she was blowing it up now What a barrels do?

They float. I'd put them together with some rope and make a raft. Come on now. Okay. Come on now. That's more humane. Okay. You can't just kill little birds put their feathers on you like you're going to fly in the sky.

But what are we going to eat? I got to eat too. That's true. I can eat coconuts, I suppose. Yeah. Come on now. Coconut's and then the birds. I don't like coconut that much, but I guess, you know, if you got to survive.

I don't like coconut that much. So I'll just kill all of the birds on the island. Man, was put on the spot. I had to come up with something fast. And that was the first thing. But barrels are smarter, I will say. All right. All right.

Do you want to read Matt's question? Yeah, Matt. Thank you for sending in a question. As someone who lives in the UK and having never been to Disneyland, I have often wondered what the films took from the ride Pirates of the Caribbean. And besides pirates, besides pirates, of course, or what was it? Or was it just the name? Tara has been, it was commenting on a movie.

Say below in a pirate accent. Cheers, Macy. Oh, yeah. Okay. So the first thing, I mean, all of the aesthetics, especially when, yes, so the first kind of thing that you see is like that boat and the cannons coming out. And the way that the stone was placed in the background, is exactly like the ride

and there's the boats and the cannons come out but I think the more nostalgic one that really stuck out to me is when he's like with the dog and they're trying to get him to give him the keys

that's such a fun point in the ride where he's like come here, come here, come here so let me ask you did they design the movie after the ride but then they added after this movie was

made. Obviously, Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and then they redesigned it. So Jack Sparrow now pops up inside the original OG Pirates. Okay, so Jack Sparrow wasn't originally in there. Correctamundo. I see. Yeah.

So now he's added in and like pops up. But there is, there's a lot. Okay, so that, the boat, the parts where they're fighting and the they go into town And the ladies, the sexy ladies, they look, the one that has, that's sitting on a barrel and is drinking.

I know this is like, you guys are like, when is this? It's in the beginning of the movie. She looks exactly like the statue in the Pirates thing. When they're running around and sort of fighting, that's like kind of a callback. When we find the guy sleeping with the pigs, that's straight out of the ride. Yeah, he's sleeping with pigs. And he says the line, they use a lot of lines from the last line in this movie. It's from the ride.

Yeah, him with the pigs. There's a bunch. Like, that's a few that I can name. I mean, I love that ride. And a lot of the, in the treasure, that's what the ride looks like. You ride by what it looks like treasure when they get to the caves.

That was a part that was obviously redone and added from the movie and not there prior. Yeah. Okay, okay. So there you go, Matt Lowe. Thank you. Gabriel says, Jack's, liquor of choice is rum minus vodka.

What's yours go? I'm like me some rum as well. Also, I'm a fan of tequila. I like me some tequila. Tequila! Rum and Coke is like my my drink of choice in when trying to have longevity,

but I'm trying to get a little swiftly, a little messed up. I'm going for a long island iced tea, but I will say that. Oh my God. It's been a minute. I haven't tried to intentionally get drunk. in some time, but that is what I'm going for.

That is just, it's aggressive. But I'm mostly in rum and coke, dude. Or Jameson, Gingerill. Those are my two. Ah, okay. What about you? What you drank in? I know you said liquor of choice, but I'm in a champagne kick right now. I like wine.

Liquor of choice. Like, what do I really like? maybe I did go on a gin kick for a minute because it has like lavender and rosemary and like different scents of botanicals depending upon the kind that you get so maybe I'll go with gin Are you just going gin or do you mix it?

I mean gin because it goes so good with like literally everything like the OG martini was not made with vodka it was made with gin gin gin martini with a lemon twist but also, yeah, you can mix it, but you could have a martini. We know. Classic.

I would never think of it said. Classy. Yeah. Okay, you want to read the next one? Sure. How do you say his name? Sci-fi extremist. Sci-fi extremist.

Thank you so much. Have you guys been on the ride at Disneyland and are there any other rides there or other theme parks that you would want to see? have did you would want to see have a movie based on it um that's a good question that's a um i don't know i feel like you're a lot more familiar with disland than i am yeah yeah the space same the space mountain have a movie no i think space mountain yeah um i would definitely say the matterhorn even though

that's like it kind of gives me like yet he feels like you know that would be fun but there's not much of a plot there um so i would definitely go for thunder mountain like duh there could be so much it goes down i mean it's kind of like well it's just a train and like there's explosions but like we could add more to it like and thunder mountain's so fun i would i would say i think i would say thunder mountain because it's a small world we don't really that song is stuck in your head it's fun i'm trying to go through all the rides um Yeah, I'm going to go without one for now. I'm going to go with that one for now.

Okay, next question is Riley Peterson. Erin and Tara, what was your favorite reference to the ride in Disneyland? And now that you've watched the first movie, do you like that they added Jack Sparrow to the ride? I do like that they added Jack Sparrow to the ride. I think they did it within the original way that the ride was, that you remember from when it was originally made. They made him pop up and it seems very natural. and my favorite reference is obviously with the dogs. They look and obviously the pirates that they chose to do that with the key.

The dog looks exactly the same as the ride. That's adorable. Don't know how they found him and the pirates look really similar to the aesthetic that they sold is awesome. I don't know if you remember the ride to give an example. I haven't been to Disneyland like 12 years. Yeah, so you're not going to. I vaguely remember the dog. though with Jack Sparrow. So I'm going to say that because I don't remember much else.

That's all right. Okay. Amanda Hayward says Aaron and Tara, this movie was Orlando Bloom's first big project after Lord of the Rings. How do you feel he did it separating himself from the character of Lego loss or does he fall into the Nick Cage effect of just being Bloom rather than becoming Wil Turner? Hmm. Interesting. I feel I obviously the look is very different. different from legless i have not seen the lord of the rings in many moons uh but i think he did a good job at being very distinct with this character by you know him having a sense of a passion and he had a driving force when wanting to to save elizabeth because he loved that girl and him his denial about the fact that he was a pirate him kind of embracing that towards the end of the movie i thought really helped him stand out and help his character become fully rounded

especially with him and Jack Sparrow going in at the end and him helping save Jack and them kind of working together in tandem. I was like, oh yeah, he's full pirate now. And I feel like his hat really helped distinguish him from Legolas. I know he's an elf. He has blonde hair and some contacts, so I feel like that definitely helps as well. I feel like, do you guys remember when he imitated Jack Sparrow in this?

And he did such a good job. I thought that was fun. Like that takes him sort of out of the bloom of you seeing him. and you're like, oh, he doesn't normally do, you wouldn't normally put Orlando Bloom in like, let's put you into where you can pretend to be like this or a comedic kind of role. But he did a great job with that.

I do understand, though, why you may be asking the question. It wasn't on my mind, honestly, at all, because I do think Orlando Bloom is believable and grounded, and that's kind of all I asked for. And I wasn't really thinking, like, oh, my God, he's exactly like the Lord of the Rings. but I can see how you would be like could there have been something more or different

but I think that's because you have Jack Sparrow right next to him and the choices that Johnny Depp made are so different and he makes such like strides in them that you may be comparing like Orlando Bloom to like more of a neutral place but that would be his place to go

so it would be Kira Knightleys and so it would be like you know the rich people who live on the land. Like, it's not that exciting of a role, but I still, I think he did a good job. I think he did great. Yeah. Okay, Jocelyn Soto,

one of my favorite aspects of this film is how enjoyable and entertaining the antagonists were, or even Norrington is an overall, all right guy. What do you guys think of the antagonist here and how do you guys categorize the Captain Jack Sparrow? Hmm. I thought they were surprising.

refreshing i expected them to be full full douchebaggery um but it was not that he was just he's a man of duty and then when he saw that the girl didn't choose him he's like all right i respect it you'll be with your man's jack you go off be a pirate we'll give you a day but you know that's him just like saving face and trying to be like we're not going to go after you directly or immediately but yeah that was surprising and how do you categorize the captain jack sparrow maybe i can I don't know if maybe anti-hero you know he wasn't straight up bad I felt like he was a pretty good guy

overall as far as pirates go and I think Barbados makes that distinction because he wanted to bargains like you see that's what it separates me from you and why you got kicked off in the first place because we just gonna kill him and then get what we need after the fact we're not going to try to make a deal so I feel like that alone kind of speaks to Jack's character

right yeah I like that I think that the antagonist here like even when we land on Davy Wayne's ship and she says parley he we find out after that he's like there's not really rules like we can kind of we don't really have to obey them but he let her

live like he actually followed those rules so I feel like they did a good job in writing the antagonist to not be absolute pricks to the point where you're like if they don't die I'm going to be mad because you know how you can get that way in

a film so I'd like that they did that and it was the same thing like with Norrington it was sort of a beginning he was very much like get rid of this guy and like kill him like how dare but he

made a he made a switch I wouldn't say it was quick because time is past so I'm all right with it I think they were just trying to show that like he's a good guy and he does live by honor which is a plus and I feel like to categorize

the Captain Jack I feel like he's such a lovable character and what they did in this movie is make a pirate a guy who doesn't just care about pirates and gold. He cares also about like the human experience. Like he actually cared about Kira Knightley and Orlando Bloom in this, right? And he helped, sure, he was bargaining and stuff like that. But he had, he held. his word, which is like a pirate doesn't really have to do that because even when he was fighting with him

in the end, he's like a dishonest person is always dishonest as a truthful ones you have to be careful of or whatever that line was. And he wasn't dishonest with them. He was truthful with them. So I like how they painted the antagonist to still

be likeful, likeful, to still be like that you like them. I like that the audience can still sort of side with them, because if you make them, you know, a little too, like, pricky, you're going to be like, well, it's just easy to be like, well, eventually they're going to die, right? Yeah. So that's my thought.

All right, let's get to our last question. The last question is pet my chicken. I'm so hype for pirates. Love watching these movies. Only question I can think of is going into the series. I see a lot of people being surprised that it's actually a really well-made movie and was wondering if this is what you expected or were you genuinely surprised? yourselves. That is a good question.

I saw this as a very young child, 2003, so I was like eight. So I did not know what to expect going into this, and I'm genuinely surprised to say it held up pretty well. I think this did a great job of

being something that I can see establishing a franchise, but it does a really strong job of being a contained story in and of itself, and having characters with strong motivations with interesting action scenes and the kinetic energy of the ride or the experience of a ride because the movie itself feels like a journey feels like a ride in and of itself and I like that and I think that these characters each stand out in a way that makes them distinct and makes

you root for them and even though it's a period piece it doesn't feel inaccessible because of the way that they're able to be poetic in its language in a way that's accessible for a modern day audience. And I like that this movie is able to be both respectful to the time period that is taking place in while also doing stuff that's super mystical and having characters that are modern enough for us to latch on to. Yeah. I would say I'm also genuinely surprised because there's a lot of pressure from making a movie that's based on a Disneyland ride from back in the day that already has millions of people that hold that ride and the nostalgia of it

in their hearts. So when they're going to make that movie, they know they are going to be judged for it. What they did right is that they used scenes that look just like the ride and they used lines that the Pirates Day in the ride. But they also grounded it with really an exciting score. They filmed it well.

Every actor is great. they add a story behind it that we don't that we wouldn't get from the from the ride right um and it's well written it adds not only comedy but also adventure which is what the ride does like it's ideally when you're writing through you're like oh explosions and then like it's kind of funny and dancing it's like a bunch of different vibes and i think that this movie delivered on that and i did not expect i think when i saw it the first time it's amazing how much i did not remember but uh I don't think that I was going into it thinking this is going to be great. I think most people were maybe like, let's see what they did here.

Like, because it's like you're basing a movie off of a ride. How well is it going to do? But it did great. And I'm like, I'm so happy they made it and that they made it good, that they didn't just make it like, listen, I'm going to use Snow White as an example. Oh, we all know how I feel about it. Okay. I had to cover the live action Snow White for this channel. I did not like it, right? I didn't like it at all. I think they maybe spread through the script. Sure, they had great actors, great names, but they weren't directed very well. Like the movie was a joke to me at a lot of points. And it made me upset because I think that Snow White and the Disney movie should be treated like with more respect because they've just been a for so long and the amount of audiences that they pull in and the fact that they sent that out as snow white i was like no absolutely not it kind of angered me um but with this it doesn't it's

freaking great it brings you into the nostalgia and the feel of the ride you feel that in this movie absolutely fog weather moon the rain like all of it 10 out of 10 so good so yeah i'm down I'm down with it. I mean, I love this movie. I think it's quite the adventure. Yeah, I agree. Do you have any other thoughts for the people about the movie? So we had a lot of questions.

We did have a lot of questions and we're grateful for all of them. Thank you guys for setting them in. This was awesome. No, I loved it. I thought it was a lot more, not that it was more fun than I expected it to be, but it was, I guess, narratively consistent and straightforward in what it was trying to accomplish. And I think that it did a great job of having antagonists

that weren't straight up villains but had a motivation you would understand. And like, okay, yeah, I get why they want to live again. I get why they are going after the things they're going after. And yeah, I thought it was super enjoyable, extremely fun. One of the more, obviously we watch a lot of good movies on this channel. But I genuinely thought this was a really great time. Yeah, it's kind of like, well, sometimes I would list this as like, one of the better ones. Because sometimes not everything's great, but this movie is ideally really, really fun from top to bottom.

And I think that's due to the nature of obviously the casting and because the director and the whole team, well, my assumption is they had to be aware of the Disneyland ride. had probably did a walk through and set deck was like you better get it right because there are millions of people around the world who are going to be like that doesn't look the same which would be me if they used a different dog or if like the pigs didn't kind of look exactly the same those are live pigs um the cassie was just dead on so i give them like all the applause good job for taking it seriously and putting in like money and effort and time into it because uh we love you for it so yeah that's it. Make sure, you know, you do all the YouTube things like, comment, subscribe. Go to RejectNation Shop.com to get your gear. Follow us at Real Rejects everywhere. We love you guys. We'll see you on the next one.