This may go back to the classic movie sequel arguments, but in the case “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy, it has to be true.

The original is simply the best.

But “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” does recapture some of the magic of the original where the second film “Dead Man’s Chest” lost it, though this sounds strange considering POTC: AWE is a direct sequel to “POTC: DMC”, but that is a later discussion.

The movie is far from perfect and has many flaws, but still has enough magic left to wrap up what we’ll tentatively call a trilogy.

Johnny Depp reprises his Captain Jack Sparrow role and again steals the show. The man was simply born to play this role. At this point, it is rather inconceivable that any other actor could play the role.

But he has some help this time around in terms of acting. Geoffrey Rush returns as cunning, devious Captain Hector Barbossa, though he is considerably a much nicer character than his original introduction in “The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley also return but their characters seem to be going in opposite directions. Bloom’s character Will Turner becomes interesting again in this film as his role is expanded and gets to have a little more fun. Bloom is more a part of the story as he felt like a footnote character “POTC: DMC.”

Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann also gets a bigger role and seems to have the biggest evolution of character in the entire series as this film takes her into a new direction. Unfortunately her evolution stands in stark contrast with her consistency as a character, but that has more to do with the script writing than Knightley’s performance.

Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards was a nice additional bonus to this film as he plays Depp’s father in this film, taking into consideration that the character of Jack Sparrow was based off of Richards.

This movie has great action shots and a plot that is enticing, but everything is just a little too much. The film 168 minute running time gets overbearing at some points especially the really cheesy moments like a giant growing Calypso or the vague introduction of Davy Jones’ Locker (which I’m honestly still starching my head about).

The film could have afforded to be a little more grounded, but director Gore Verbinski always has been on the more imaginative side with the “Pirates” films.

The plot is too messy, but that can be accounted to in part to “POTC: DMC.” The films were shot back to back, but to fully understand the plot, these films need to be watched back to back and that is a very taxing deed in terms of time.

They should have just diluted the plot for terms of understanding, not everyone in the theatre should have a notepad taking notes to connect the plot together.

What I felt this film really got right was the ending, which I won’t spoil, but it seemed to be a fitting end. It was not exactly a typical, cliche ending to a trilogy, yet it wrapped itself up enough, especially if you stick around for after the credits for an extra scene. But I can understand how staying through the credits might be like pulling teeth considering the film’s already overly-ambiguous running time.

“POTC: AWE” is a fun film with plenty of action and hijinks as any summer film can be expected to deliver, but to enjoy it, it can’t be taken too seriously or judged next to the original which, in this case, is the best.