On March 18, 1967, a new ride called “Pirates of the Caribbean” opened at Disneyland. While this ride would go through many changes over the years, it has still kept the same magic.

From the smell of the water when you enter the building to the dark and eerie swamp when the ride starts, its magic intrigues anybody that chooses to go on this ride. What seems like just an entertaining ride would go on to become one of the biggest film franchises of all time.

On July 9, 2003, a movie based on the “Pirates” ride was released in theaters. It starred Johnny Depp as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, as well as Orlando Bloom as William Turner and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swan. While the film’s heroes are loved by many, one of the best parts of this first movie is the antagonists: Captain Hector Barbosa played by Geoffrey Rush and his cursed crew of The Black Pearl.

The story follows Jack Sparrow (Depp) and Will Turner (Bloom) as they try to track down Captain Barbosa and save Elizabeth Swann (Knightley). Captain Barbosa and his crew had been cursed after they stole and spent cursed gold. Their goal is to lift this curse by returning all of the gold to one place.

This movie is by far the best that the series has to offer. Depp seems like he was born to play Jack Sparrow in this movie, which makes it fun to watch. The crew of The Black Pearl are scary at times but also very comedic, which helps lighten the mood. The duality between Sparrow and Barbosa works really well throughout the movie.

However, the rest of the franchise shouldn’t be ignored. The two following movies, “Dead Man’s Chest,” and “At World’s End” are one big story split into two movies. While these movies do lack in some areas, like the effects being less convincing and the side characters sometimes being annoying, I think it is made up for by many other things.

These movies follow the same three protagonists as the first movie, Sparrow, Turner and Swann, as well as some other new and returning characters helping them along the way. However, this time they are facing off against Davy Jones, played by the amazing Bill Nighy. I think Davy Jones is a really great antagonist in these movies. He comes off as a huge threat that seems almost unbeatable, while he also shows some softer sides at times to give his character more depth.

After these two films, however, there is a significant drop in the quality of the following two movies. In 2011, “On Stranger Tides” was released to lukewarm or overall negative reviews. This movie was followed up by “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” the last movie in the series to be released. Audiences had fairly similar reactions to this movie as “On Stranger Tides.” The director of the previous three movies, Gore Verbinski, left the director’s seat, which very likely caused this drop in quality.

As a fan of this film franchise, it is definitely sad to see it end on a rather dull note. “Pirates” grew from an amazing ride at Disneyland with an amazing atmosphere which inspired an amazing movie to some “okay” sequels towards the end. However, in recent years, there has been talk of a potential sixth movie. It is still in very early stages of development and could still get canceled, but I am looking forward to a good return to form and some fun pirate adventures.