I've never been a big fan of Johnny Depp. I haven't seen many of his movies, including Platoon, Ed Wood, Donny Brasco, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and Sleepy Hollow. I've had little desire to see them because he's not one of those actors whose name attached to a movie immediately makes me curious about it. As for Benny and Joon, Don Juan DeMarco and What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, I was underwhelmed. Until looking at his IMDB file, I had forgotten that he was in Chocolat. And, sorry, but Edward Scissorhands, while good enough, doesn't keep calling to me.

So I didn't think much of his top billing in Pirates of the Caribbean, which opened last night.

But by God, was he fabulous. Even if he was still playing Johnny Depp, it was the best Johnny Depp he's played, in my mind.

I went into the theater without much in the way of expectations. I don't know if I was skeptical about a Disney ride being made into a movie or about Johnny Depp in the lead, but I didn't think to expect to be so wholly entertained. Perhaps it helped that I forgot about Jerry Bruckheimer's producing the flick, because it certainly lived up to his reputation. The guy will blow up anything: bars, cities, islands, fleets, prejudices, planets ... Now he's sinking schooners. But Depp played a thoroughly enjoyable and unique character. As Captain Jack Sparrow, he portrayed the likeable rogue, the sympathetic villan and the comic relief � as the lead. I never tired of his appearance on screen, as I do five minutes into anything starring Nicolas Cage.

Despite the formulaic storyline � a working class laborer is in love with the governor's daughter, who is expected to marry the well-to-do commandant, who in turn is intent on putting an end to all pirates, and you know who the girl will end up with in the end � and two ridiculous attempts at forced laughs that're so clearly Hollywood and would not have shown up in any form had events even remotely close to the plot ever happened, I found myself completely engaged by the curse of the Black Pearl. (To the screenwriters' credit, the forced laughs were jammed into the script as two simple lines, one by Keira Knightly's character during the climactic � and there I almost typed "climatic" � battle scene, the other by Depp as he said goodbye to Knightly.)

Cliches of pirate lore and aspects of the ride itself were wonderfully weaved into the story � from the mangy dog holding the ring of keys to the jail cell just out of reach of the prisoners, to the boisterous village of Tortuga � that some you recognize right away and others you realize after the fact and think, "Hey!" It made me nostalgiac for animatronic characters and a boat ride through darkened tunnels built into a central Florida orange grove.

If there were ever a ride at Disney World that should lead to a movie, this is it. Beforehand, they showed us the trailer for the Eddie Murphy-led The Haunted Mansion, which while appearing better than Casey and I had expected when we heard "Eddie Murphy" and "Disney's Haunted Mansion" together, doesn't carry the same fantastic expectations that a story about pirates on the high seas does. Since the haunted mansion in itself is a cliche, the film, I think, will have more to live up to.

But if they ever make a movie out of the teacups ride, they'll have to get Tom Petty to play the Mad Hatter.