Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker, while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle, as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance. - skip ad - Genres: Action/Adventure, Adaptation and Sequel Running Time: 2 hr. 45 min. Release Date: May 24th (select theaters), May 25th, 2007 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence and some frightening images. Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Cast And Credits Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley Directed by: Gore Verbinski Produced by: Bruce Hendricks, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman

For what it's worth, the trilogy-capping "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," represents a considerable step up from the soulless "Dead Man's Chest."

Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow's in fine flighty form and the enterprise as a whole has reconnected with some of that fun stuff that made it such a pleasant excursion when it first set sail back in 2003.

Of course, even if that wasn't the case, those legions of "Pirates" fans wouldn't really care, having previously ignored critics' warnings to the tune of $423 million in North America alone.

So they'll likely overlook the fact that it still takes an awfully long time (two hours and 47 minutes) getting to where it needs to go and you could make yourself seasick trying to untangle all those confusing plot lines (at least 15, according to our count).

In other words, "At World's End," which hits in this end of the world Thursday night, shouldn't have any problems beating its previous openings, though that expansive running time could take a nip out of its record-breaking potential.

Cutting to the chase, "World's End" finds Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, who only made a brief appearance at the end of "Dead Man's Chest") setting sail on a quest to gather together the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court in a bid to defeat the pirate-hating Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and Admiral Norrington (Jack Davenport).

The only problem is, one of those Lords, Jack Sparrow, is still trapped in Davy Jones' Locker, and, in order to get to him, Turner, Swann and company must first make a stop in Singapore to secure a ship and some handy maps from formidable Chinese pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat).

And with everybody having their own personal agendas, the voyage turns into one big crazy game of Who Do You Trust?

It all feels more than a tad overstuffed, as if director Gore Verbinski, along with writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, shared with "Spider-Man" franchise director Sam Raimi the need to cram everything in here, in the event that this would be his last time calling the shots whether or not the movies would continue.

But while it still lacks the giddy zip of "Curse of the Black Pearl," the new edition delivers its share of entertaining sequences, especially wherever Depp is concerned.

His otherworldly confinement in Davy Jones Locker gives way to absurdist flights of fancy that suggest a meeting of the minds of Chuck Jones, Tim Burton and Salvador Dali, and bring something novel to the "Pirates" table.

MoMore than ever, Depp masterfully keeps the enterprise afloat, even when the sheer weight of all those other characters threatens to throw it off-course.

In addition to the above-mentioned, the extensive passenger list also includes Bill Nighy as the heavily tentacled Davy Jones, Stellan Skarsgard as Turner's imprisoned dad Bootstrap Bill, Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma, the gypsy queen who turns out to be a true force of nature, and, most notably, Keith Richards in a brief but memorable turn as crusty Keeper of the Code and Sparrow's mentor, Captain Teague.

Production values are typically shipshape, with production designer Rick Heinrichs and visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Charles Gibson again delivering on those trademark gargantuan set pieces, while composer Hans Zimmer manages to add some fresh flourishes to the familiar "Pirates" mix.