Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

It’s way too long and massively convoluted and ultimately just plain silly. But still, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End" is a lot of fun a lot of the time. The third movie in the freakishly successful "Pirates" franchise feels substantial and looks impressive and fulfils the hype surrounding it in a way the other thirds _ Spidey and Shrek _ haven’t so far.

Having said that, it is, of course, a giant meandering mess that leaves you feeling as if you’ve been tossed about on the high seas for three hours, but theoretically that’s also part of the allure of these movies.

Director Gore Verbinski and writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio return with even bigger helpings of special effects, including an interminable climax in which the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman battle each other in the driving rain while circling along the edge of a swirling, sucking maelstrom. And yet, within such sequences, there are enough individual "wow" moments that make you appreciate just how inventive and complicated an achievement this was.

– Christy Lemire, AP