Pirates 3... saw it, and all its plot lines

I worked yesterday to get the message for Sunday, so I had my day off today. I headed over to Showplace for the 11:30 am Showing of Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End.

I was in the mood for a little mindless entertainment, so the movie worked for me. BUT, it's very clear that the name of the game for Summer Blockbusters is "plot lines for everybody". Pirates 2 had plenty to finish up, and then this time around I guess they decided there needed to be a few (or a lot) more added in.

So, here's the positives and the negatives...

Positives:

• Jack Sparrow is a great character. Depp's humor from the 1st movie is back.
• The resolve of Jack, Will, Elizabeth worked for me... especially the Will/Elizabeth relationship.
• I'd heard rumors of a certain rock icon making a cameo appearance... it's there, and it was good.
• The Jack/ Davy face off was top notch "swashbuckling".
  

Negatives:

• Everybody gets a plot line.
• The final "battle scene" lacked. Mainly due to the rain. It was so dark and overpaced that I wasn't into it.
• Not enough "swashbuckling" and a little too much boat battles.
• 168 minutes... I had 2 different bathroom breaks.
• There was a lot of violence and I guess you could call it "gore" for a PG 13 movie. It was much darker than the original. Definitely not for young audiences, but how are they marketing it???

I'm starting to realize I'm not much of a Summer Blockbuster guy.