History YMMV / PiratesOfTheCaribbean

%%* DieForOurShip: Willabeth vs. Sparrabeth is SeriousBusiness.

%% ** Mercer, Lord Beckett's [[TheDragon second-in-command]].

** Hector Barbossa was once the First Mate to Captain Jack Sparrow aboard the ''[[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanBlackPearl Black Pearl]]'' until instituting a mutiny to take over the ship and being cursed as an immortal skeleton with certain human senses gone being cursed as an immortal skeleton with certain human senses gone. Seeking William "Will" Turner to break said curse, Barbossa incites an invasion of Port Royal and abducts Elizabeth Swann thinking she's the descendant he needs and uses a lot of double-talk to arrange circumstances to his liking at each turn. Barbossa then uses Elizabeth as leverage to get Will in his possession, distracting the British Navy with an attack and nearly succeeds in sacrificing Will in order to restore his humanity, only to be killed when the curse is broken. Resurrected not long after, Barbossa seeks to bring Jack back from Davy Jones's locker` while also fighting Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company and releasing the Goddess Calypso "from [her] human bonds" to get her assistance. Eventually taking down Blackbeard for [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanQueenAnnesRevenge his ship]] and power and then seeking to protect his capitalization on all things piracy, Barbossa willing chooses to finally give it all up for the sake of the survival of his own daughter Carina, his true "Treasure".

** Refurbishments to the Disneyland Paris and American rides revised the auction scene from a male pirate selling wenches into forced marriage to male and female pirates selling chickens and stolen rum. Some riders have thanked Disney for removing a scene that seemed to make light of human trafficking, for allowing the redhead wench to [[TookALevelInBadass level up from eye candy to piracy]], and even giving her the name Redd in a nod to her FanNickname "the Redhead". Other riders see the change as an overreaction to an attraction that never seemed to encourage human trafficking, especially since it was implied "the Redhead" was actually a prostitute who merely saw the pirates' invasion as a profitable night. Another camp suggests that Disney could have compromised by showing Redd actively fending off the men who objectified her, which wouldn't have required replacing all of the dialogue.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' was expected to be a flop by many entertainment writers. The film was conceived by Disney as [[RuleOfThree the second of three Disney park ride adaptations]], along with ''Film/TheCountryBears'' and ''Film/TheHauntedMansion2003'', at the time considered a bizarre concept to base a film upon. The pirate subgenre had also seen numerous costly flops, with ''Film/CutthroatIsland'' being one of the biggest money losers ever. Eisner also hated Creator/JohnnyDepp's eccentric performance of Captain Jack Sparrow, at one point yelling on set that Depp was "ruining the film." The film took off at the box office, buoyed by positive reviews and word of mouth and ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films of 2003, and Depp himself was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. The second film, ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', was an even bigger hit, setting the North American opening weekend record and was the highest grossing film of 2006.

* CultClassic:
** The now discontinued [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] has a small but dedicated fanbase-- so much so that there's an ongoing project to recreate it!
** The A. C. Crispin novel ''[[Literature/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanThePriceOfFreedom The Price of Freedom]]'' is one of the darkest novels Disney has ever published. Most of the fans who've read it love it, yet it's relatively unknown and it [[CanonDiscontinuity isn't considered canonical with the new movies]]. That hasn't stopped it from developing a small but loyal fanbase, particulary with those who approach the later films with FanonDiscontinuity.

** Many felt this way about James Norrington in ''At World's End'' where he was [[OutOfFocus pushed to the background]] despite his character taking an interesting turn by becoming a crewmember of the ''Black Pearl'' in ''Dead Man's Chest''.

** Some fans don't ignore any of the movies but prefer to ignore the death of some EnsembleDarkHorse like [[spoiler: Norrington, Gillete, Groves, etc.]]

* CompleteMonster:
** Lord Cutler Beckett (in ''YMMV/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' and ''YMMV/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''), [[YMMV/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides Blackbeard]], [[YMMV/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Armando Salazar]] and [[YMMV/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnline Jolly Roger]]. See those pages for details.
** ''[[Literature/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanThePriceOfFreedom The Price of Freedom]]'' prequel novel, by A. C. Crispin: [[TortureTechnician Ian Mercer]] is the [[SoftSpokenSadist stoically sadistic]] right-hand man of [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanNavy Cutler Beckett]], aiding his employer in a scheme of mass murder and slavery. A lover of torture who brags of his dozens of successful "interrogations" after a prisoner kills himself rather than face more of Mercer's brutality, Mercer tries to track down a variety of slaves for the express purpose of torturing them for information on their home island of Kerma. Mercer and Beckett intend to find Kerma, raid the island for its massive gold supply, and wipe out most of the populace before selling any survivors into their slave trade. When Jack Sparrow thwarts the invasion of Kerma, Mercer giddily takes part in Jack's branding as a pirate before destroying his cherished ship ''The Wicked Wench'' [[KickTheDog just to torment him]].

!!Reactions to the ride and other parts of the franchise:

* CultClassic:
%%** The original theme park ride.
** The now discontinued [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] has a small but dedicated fanbase-- so much so that there's an ongoing project to recreate it!
** The A. C. Crispin novel ''[[Literature/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanThePriceOfFreedom The Price of Freedom]]'' is one of the darkest novels Disney has ever published. Most of the fans who've read it love it, yet it's relatively unknown and it [[CanonDiscontinuity isn't considered canonical with the new movies]]. That hasn't stopped it from developing a small but loyal fanbase, particulary with those who approach the later films with FanonDiscontinuity.

----

!!Reactions to multiple films:

* AdaptationDisplacement:
** The original theme park rides, which were always among Disney's most popular attractions, were modified to include elements from the films after complaints from patrons wondering where Jack was.
** Disney purposefully tried to invoke this with the marketing for the original film by making almost no mention that it was a Disney film, as they were worried that the Disney connection would make older demographics not take the movie seriously and avoid seeing it.

%%* AwesomeEgo: Captain Jack Sparrow.

* CreatorWorship: Creator/GoreVerbinski is seen as this by many fans, especially by those who consider the fourth and fifth movie as Sequelitis, with many going as far as stating that his departure from the franchise is the main reason for the decay in both popularity and quality. If you look for fan forums about the future of the franchise, chances are at least one fan mentions that he should return because OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight. Incidentally, he was offered the chance to direct the fifth one, but refused because he saw no reason for it to exist other than money, and directed ''At World's End'' with the intent of it resolving everyone's stories so that there wouldn't be another movie.

* MorePopularSpinoff: It was based on a theme park ride after all. (Albeit Disney's [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative cult favorite theme park ride]].) When ''Dead Man's Chest'' came out, the attraction was updated to feature Jack, Barbossa and Davy Jones.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Anamaria. Hey, kids! It's [[Film/{{Avatar}} Neytiri]]! Or [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nyota Uhura]]! And [[Film/GuardiansoftheGalaxy2014 Gamora]]!

** It is rumored that Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley's decisions not to reprise their respective roles for ''On Stranger Tides'', as well as their CreatorBacklash bordering on OldShame dispositions toward the characters, stem from the romance story which took over the trilogy, rather than the characters themselves.

%%* ShipToShipCombat
* SpiritualAdaptation: The overall concept of the franchise bears a strong similarity to the seafaring horror stories of Creator/WilliamHopeHodgson.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The addition of elements from the movies to the original rides has resulted in quite the BrokenBase, to the extent that Davy Jones disappeared from the Disneyland version in 2018. Even BEFORE the movies existed, there were fans outraged over the differences between the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom versions. The Paris version seems to get some acclaim for its more cynical interpretation of the ride, though.

* VindicatedByHistory: Some viewers who didn't care for Will and Elizabeth, found their love story to be a RomanticPlotTumor, and wished the films would ditch them to focus solely on Jack Sparrow found themselves displeased and missing Will and Elizabeth's presence when both the fourth and fifth movies that did just that still failed to engage with them, as it was felt that Jack on his own without other main characters to serve as an anchor for him and StraightMan to his antics didn't work out so well, and the ReplacementScrappy lover pairs (Philip and Syrena in the fourth film, Henry and Carina in the fifth film) weren't even as convincing in their romances as Will and Elizabeth were.

* WinBackTheCrowd: As the movies seemed to get progressively worse, many fans became discouraged to see the fifth. However when trailers revealed that [[spoiler: Will and Elizabeth were returning]], a lot of fans sang praises while others became dismayed as they felt obligated to see it.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: The first film, ''Curse of the Black Pearl'', states very clearly at least twice that Will, played by lean, smooth pretty boy Orlando Bloom, is the spitting image of his father, Bootstrap Bill Turner. In the second and third films, ''Dead Man's Chest'' and ''At World's End'', Bootstrap Bill is played by big, stocky, craggy faced Stellan Skarsgård. What, they couldn't find an actor who at least matched Bloom's physicality?

* ContestedSequel: You will have a hard time finding any consensus about any of the sequels among the fanbase. Are ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'' and ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'' epic and ambitious followups that naturally progress the story and characters of the original movie or narrative disasters that don't capture the charm of the original movie and are trying too hard to be taked seriously? Is ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' the best sequel for sticking closer to the tone of the original or the worst sequel for hardly trying anything challenging? And then there's ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' which is either a refreshing SoftReboot and a major SalvagedStory for the flaws of the last three movies or a complete betrayal of everything the franchise has done until now. And that's not even getting in the BrokenBase around which pair of sequels was in the right direction to nail the tone the franchise should have, with some fans prefering the DarkerAndEdgied story-driven first two sequels while other fans prefer the LighterAndSofter simpler latter movies.

%%* ContestedSequel: It's a consensus that FirstInstallmentWins, but the qualities of the following four are widely disputed.

%% * LauncherOfAThousandShips: Captain Jack.

** The A. C. Crispin novel ''[[Literature/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanThePriceOfFreedom The Price of Freedom]]'' is one of the darkest novels Disney has ever published. Most of the fans who've read it love it, yet it's relatively unknown and it [[CanonDiscontinuity isn't considered canonical with the new movies]]. That hasn't stopped it from developing a small but loyal fanbase who approach the later films with FanonDiscontinuity.

* {{Sequelitis}}: General consensus is that the series has gotten worse with each passing film, with the last one being widely seen as the weakest, with even the normally beloved Jack Sparrow growing tiresome to a lot of audiences.

** The A. C. Crispin novel ''The Price of Freedom'' is one of the darkest novels Disney has ever published. Most of the fans who've read it love it, yet it's relatively unknown and it [[CanonDiscontinuity isn't considered canonical with the new movies]]. That hasn't stopped it from developing a small but loyal fanbase who approach the later films with FanonDiscontinuity.

%%* DracoInLeatherPants:
%%** Barbossa to the point that he becomes the TokenEvilTeammate [[spoiler:at the end of the second movie.]]
%%** Davy Jones due to his [[LargeHam deliciously hammy]] vill%ainy and CryForTheDevil backstory.
%%** Even Cutler Beckett and Capitán Salazar for those who agree that all pirates are evil and should be killed.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' was expected to be a flop by many entertainment writers. The film was conceived by Disney as [[RuleOfThree the second of three Disney park ride adaptations]], along with ''Film/TheCountryBears'' and ''Film/TheHauntedMansion'', at the time considered a bizarre concept to base a film upon. The pirate subgenre had also seen numerous costly flops, with ''Film/CutthroatIsland'' being one of the biggest money losers ever. Eisner also hated Creator/JohnnyDepp's eccentric performance of Captain Jack Sparrow, at one point yelling on set that Depp was "ruining the film." The film took off at the box office, buoyed by positive reviews and word of mouth and ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films of 2003, and Depp himself was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. The second film, ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', was an even bigger hit, setting the North American opening weekend record and was the highest grossing film of 2006.

%%** Even Cutler Beckett and Captain Salazar for those who agree that all pirates are evil and should be killed.

** [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanCaptainJackSparrow Captain Jack Sparrow]], one of the nine "Pirate Lords" and the most famed pirate of the Caribbean, lured Captain Armando Salazar to his doom at the start of his pirating career with little but his wits. Later escaping the clutches of the wicked Cutler Beckett and the mutiny of his [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanBlackPearl treacherous crew]], Jack dreams of recovering the ''Black Pearl'' and uses the begrudging William "Will" Turner to do so. Performing a series of elaborate double and triple crosses to manipulate both the [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanNavy Navy]] and cursed pirates against one another, Jack ends up on the side of good to defeat his traitorous former First Mate Hector Barbossa. When Beckett emerges and the feared Davy Jones is after him, Jack bargains for time from Jones to steal his disembodied heart. Returning from death, Jack makes Elizabeth Swann the King of the Pirates' Brethren Court while setting her and Will up to escape Beckett and allow Jack to take Jones' place, a dream he abandons to save the mortally wounded Will. Later forced to assist [[UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} Edward "Blackbeard" Teach]] in a quest for the FountainOfYouth, Jack tricks the feared pirate into sacrificing his life for his daughter Angelica and later provides a way for his old rival and sometimes-friend Barbossa to give his life to save Barbossa's daughter Carina. Rarely at a loss for words or plots, Jack routinely comes up with plans on the fly, so talented that some wonder if he has things planned out or makes them up as he goes along.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After audience complaints about the second and third films growing longer and more complicated, the later films shifted to a more LowFantasy style of narrative and became noticeably shorter.

* FriendlyFandoms: Many ''Pirates of the Caribbean fans'' tend to like ''[[Franchise/OnePiece One Piece]]'' due to similar pirate theme and the [[{{Cloudcuckooland}} bizarrely funny]] [[LargeHam nature of the series]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Anamaria. Hey, kids! It's [[Film/{{Avatar}} Neytiri]]! Or [[Film/StarTrek2009 Nyota Uhura]]! And [[Film/GuardiansoftheGalaxy Gamora]]!