As far as live-action adaptations of Disney theme-park rides go, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN was by far the better film (still, I haven't seen THE COUNTRY BEARS yet...). This is family fluff, written by the team of Cookie and Cutter.
I basically watched the first half of the movie in a daze, watching it go through its oh-so-familiar paces. Nice to see Terence Stamp, of course, and I had to be mindful of my four-year-old son, who certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. As for me, the grand "reveal" of a crucial painting simply induced a groan of "Oh, no... not THIS again!"
It woke me up in the second half. The "barbershop quartet" was hilarious, Disney took a chance with the blatant theme of forbidden inter-racial romance... but best of all, the "scary" high point wasn't afraid to be SCARY. No attempt to pretty up the skeletal zombies bursting forth from the various crypts in the mausoleum--nice and rotted, good and nasty--fine to scare any child (except one as experienced as my son, of course).
So--not a total loss, as this IS a Disney family film with a PG rating, after all. Asking for Fulci would have been wrong. Still--try just a LITTLE harder with the script next time? Wouldn't kill you. Thanks.
