I was wrong. It was hugely entertaining. The reviewers were right: Johnny Depp just steals this movie. It is clear from the very beginning that he enjoyed himself immensely while making this movie, throwing himself completely into his role as Captain Jack Sparrow. Although the movie itself is too fluffy to be mentioned, it would be a crime if Depp is not nominated for an Academy Award for this work.

The computer-generated sequences were well done. The cursed pirates become rotting skeletons when exposed to moonlight, and since many of the battle sequences are filmed at night under a full moon (naturally), the filmmakers had the difficult task of merging CG images with live images as the pirates dash in and out of moonlight and shadow. It was seamless.

I was also amused by the number of scene straight from the ride. As one of my office mates said, the jailhouse scene with the dog seemed even seemed to use the same faces.

Caution for parents: my 10-year-old (who has an active imagination and is easily frightened) could not take this movie. Mom had to remove him after the first turn-into-skeleton scenes.

There was one thing that annoyed me (there's always something). One of the previews was for the next Disney adventure: Haunted Mansion, also based on a Disneyland ride. I guess Disney has finally run out of fairy tales. I suppose next year, we'll be treated to Space Mountain: The Movie.