User reviews

Silliness and action galore if that's what lights your fire. This forgoes some of the strengths I usually associate with Korean drama (deft plotting, strong rounded characters, great acting) and just about gets away with it. That's partly because it is not trying to be anything other than what it is: an action comedy. And both the action and the comedy scrape over the bar.

I'll keep it short:

If you're looking for a pirates movie with excellent production values and set designs, great visuals and camera work, some sillyness and funny (perhaps a little bit annoying) character dynamics, nice cast, good amount of fast-paced, comic book action, some historical period setting in South Korea and just get excellently entertained, then this movie is recommended for you.

Somewhere between Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and a Screwball Comedy, this movie is a good watch.

Because of some back and forth time jumps in the storytelling that got me confused, some too silly silliness and some all too well known tropes, I've got to deduct some stars, but still: A highly entaining, greatly crafted action adventure comedy Pirates movie.

Recommended.

Not up to Korean standards. Good cast, but mediocre writing and sloppy directing with inexplicable scene shifts that break attention. It has a few enjoyable moments, but the first film with Son Yi Jin is far better.

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure is a wacky, high-octane swashbuckling adventure full of cartoonish action and silly gags. It is nothing we haven't seen before but has an entertaining infectious energy if you go along with it.

When I saw a brand new South Korean pirate movie on Netflix, I was immediately intrigued. Movies made at sea are rare and far between. Pirate movies are practically an endangered film genre. With its rising popularity around the world, I was doubly curious to see what a South Korean pirate movie would be like.

The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure is one wacky motion picture. Or in some ways, it may be easier to think of it as a live-action cartoon with attention-deficit disorder. The tone is part-cartoon, part-wuxia and part-historical epic; where whales swallow people and shoot them out of their blowholes... only to be saved by them slamming against a ship's sails.

Lead actor Kang Ha-neul's bandit screams his lines with big gaping laughs into the sky like a possessed cartoon character, or a younger Korean version of Toshiro Mifune from Seven Samurai. Lead actress Han Hyo-joo is the cool-headed captain leading her crew of misfits and fools. The villains, who are government officials and soldiers with stern faces, feel like they're in a more serious historical epic in a completely separate movie.

The fast-paced editing cutting between the three groups is like a pinball just bouncing around rapidfire. It is funny but also dizzying at times. Perhaps it is just South Korean humor, but international audiences may struggle with its constantly shifting tone. It hurts the film in its more serious and emotional moments, as it never fully grounds its drama.

A common gag in pirate films is the fragile morality between thieves. As we have seen previously in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, situations change and every character's motivations are changing and the crew eventually turns on each other and double-crosses one another in hilarious ways. The Pirates ultimately pulls off this central gag well and it was funny enough to keep me entertained.

I believe The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure will play well with kids and parents can certainly enjoy it with their children for its laughs. As for the adults, it's light harmless silly fun.

If you want to relax while learning some korean history, this is your movie. But if you want some mindblowing korean action, this one is not up to your expectation. It is just some light-hearted action comedy. Have fun. The CGI is quite good.

I had completely forgotten about the other Pirates movie. No not Jack Sparrow - the other Korean Pirates movie this is a sequel to. Now that may not say a lot about the movie, but it is rather saying something about me remembering stuff. And again that is not being mean to the movie - it was nice, as is this.

The effects are more than decent, the story is fine ... and there are Penguins in this one. I mean, what more could you ask for? A bit of inclusivity, like a strong female character? Check on that too ... or is it check ... mate? Not even sure that would count as pirate pun, but here we go.

Korean cinema has really produced some great movies - either dramas or in genre fare. And in this case it is genre, suspend your disbelief, get on board and ... float with the flow.

This is an interesting movie. Though it is supposed to be a sequel to the 2014 movie The Pirates, you can still enjoy without watching it, but, that film is fun to watch too, therefore consider it as a recommendation, if you have not seen it yet.

Coming back to the movie, as you can expect it's a fun filled adventure comedy, with a pinch of romance in it. Some films helps you to escape from the harsh realities of life, some people use films as a hiding place, I am one of them. This film can give you 2 hours hide from life, just like a journey.

Suggested for those Korean film lovers out there.

I just watched ''Pirates'' movie today that was amazing filled with actions and comedy, even the story is awesome. However, I didn't like this one. Truly speaking, I'm just sick of treasure movies as they all are same. And after watching ''Pirates'' I raised my expectations too high and didn't get what I wanted.

I watched this movie for Oh Sehun, but the entire cast was great !

I have watched a lot of pirate movies and this one is one of my favorite ones. The movie keeps you entertained from the beginning until the end. There are a lot of fights and adventures throughout the entire movie, not just the end. There is a lot of comedy in it as well. I definitely recommend to watch.

It is an action movie with comedy in it..

Good story, Good effect, good directing and decent acting..

The comedy element makes this movie very enjoyable..

The lady captain really nailed the character, and others are completing the whole story..

Not my cup of tea, that's for sure. Assentially a Korean version of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN complete with naval battles and lots of CGI animals along the way. A young. Photogenic cast more rooted in fantasy rather than any historical reality. One of the guys, with the fuzzy hair, is intensely annoying and there's a K-pop star to boot. Fast paced and with lots of action to recommend it, and the usual strong direction, but this kind of silly comedy isn't for me. For something more serious, try THE ADMIRAL.

This is in my opinion one of the best ironic pirate movies since the days of pirates of the Caribbean. The acting and the scenes are all wonderful, the film entertains you from start to finish making you have a lot of fun. The plot is very classic but still very beautiful and very effective, really highly recommended if you want to watch a light and fun movie.

I think that the story was not enough developed, the character of Kwang Soo was interesting but also not enough exploited.

Actors are good, but characters were too "vague", However I did like the movie itself, so I give a 7/10.

South Koreans are masters of every genre, they've been making the best movies on the planet for 20 years now. Every genre that is but comedy. Either that or their taste in humor is just different than hours and they prefer physical comedy and facial expressions three notches above what we'd consider too much even in theatre acting. Too bad, since the script isn't terrible and had potential.

This is a nice past time movie, quite funny and story still normal ok. Special effect not that great but still able to bear with the jokes.

Recommended to watch even in cinema.

While 1st one was much better but il like it too it was much fun to watch action adventure comedy .

Fighting scenes and back ground was great.

Happy Friday.

This is Pirates of the Caribbean - Asian style!

You need the English subtitles if your Korean is a little rusty. Good story and camerawork with the obligatory CGI. The actors fit their roles pretty well. All in all it gives Jack sparrow a run for his money and definitely worth a watch.

It's like a diamond but when u see the inside u find an onion ,the costumes ,the actors everything is so cool but the story is so messy.,a 10 years old can write better storyline ....frienship,betrayal,roamnce,love,action,adventure everything is there but no connected at all make no sense, there is a lot of useless scenes ....and unnecessary dialogues .... i know the purpose of the movie is not create a masterpiece but for entertainment but it failed.miserably .....

If you want to casually sit back and watch something light hearted and entertaining, then this is a great movie. Some of the CGI effects are a little average, but I liked the silliness of it all. The music was fun and upbeat, the plot was uncomplicated and straight to the point and the characters were likeable. The fighting scenes were surprisingly really good too and I'm a sucker for sword fights. It had some very random humour that some might find very cringe, but I think we all need a little more cringe in our serious lives...

This is more into comedic rather the adventure itself. The adventure aspect was cut short, cgi were great tbh. Sound effects amazing. Casts were great. Love this type of movie, shouldve focus on more into the treasure hunting rather on the political aspect of this movie. Kwang su like always, funny and charismatic. The highest appraisals should adressed towards these 2 main casts - jennifer & ha neul. Excellent acting. Predicatable and lacking action as well. But recommended.

Huge fan of korean movies and was excited to see this for Lee Kwangsu but Kang Ha Neul is so cringy with his terrible acting I stopped watching after 15 minutes. I have no idea why they keep casting this guy in movies. And seriously a 18th century pirates of the Caribbean type European ship in 1396 korea? How dumb do they think we are.

A great film story and good cinematography and A comedy that doesn't disappoint from lee kwang soo

The cute pinguin was so adorable. Love this movie so much.

I watched this for about 20 minutes and that was all I could stand. The overacting, the repetitive 'comedy' and the similarity to "The Pirates" (2014) seems more than coincidental. From the beginning you could tell that it was trying too hard to outdo "The Pirates" (2014) and fails miserably at it. I was hoping that it was a sequel to that movie, but it is just a poor remake of that movie.

This is what you end up with when you mix up the scripts of Pirates of the Caribbean with the 70s trash 'Monkey' (or the Water Margin, which was even more unfathomable). Somebody might be able to make some sense of this but I couldn't. It's overacted to the nth degree, which just gets tiresome; even Jim Carrey can't compete with range of idiot facial expressions on parade here.

For all that, it does have its charms, and managing to get to the end of it felt like a triumph of sorts. Not recommended, but not dismissed either.

Amazing movie, amazing cast, fun to watch. I watched it for my favourite star cast. Good movie by Netflix. Should do more korean content. It is getting better and better.