Every now and then a performance comes along which is more over the top than a Nepalese sherpa clambering up Mount Everest.

Depp's swash-buckling pirate, Cap'n Jack Sparrow, boasts the swagger of Keef Richards after an intense course of elocution lessons from the late Tommy Cooper.

Charges of grand theft must be served as he shamelessly steals every scene he's in with a display of thespian excess that even Rod Steiger could only dream of.

From the moment he arrives on the Caribbean island of Port Royal (he slickly steps off the prow of his boat as it sinks to the bottom), you just know he's up for it.

Described as "without doubt the worst pirate I've ever seen", this dreadlocked dandy is out for revenge after ex first mate Cap'n Barbossa (Rush) marooned him on a desert island.

To complicate matters, a hoard of gold the double-crossing brigand pinched carries a curse...so, in the moonlight, Capt B and his band bring a new meaning to the phrase skeleton crew.

Along for the ride are blacksmith Will (Bloom) and governor's daughter (Knightley), who holds a gold medallion that could free Barbossa and his men from their predicament.

This has the power to transport adults back to the stalls of the local fleapits of their youth for a bit of old-fashioned swash-and-buckling.

Judging from Depp's appearance, it's a co-production between Disney and Maybelline, as he effortlessly cuts a swathe through the marauding army of marine zombies.

Director Verbinski keeps everything at a human scale, with the fight scenes aboard listing man 'o' wars a slick combination of sfx and traditional stuntwork.

Gareth from The Office (Mackenzie Crook) crops up as an incompetent one-eyed pirate, and Bloom plays it straight as the foil to Depp's eccentric sea dog.

Parents and kids will both go overboard for a movie for which the term 'rollicking' may have been coined.

Tim Evans