“It’s all Johnny Depp’s fault,” complains one of the main characters in Pirates of the Great Salt Lake, a campy independent movie poking fun at almost every pirate movie ever made. Pirate wannabe Kirk Redgrave thinks Depp portrayed such a cute pirate in those Pirates of the Caribbean movies that people aren’t afraid of them anymore. Kirk, dressed in scourge-of-the-sea garb and wearing plenty of Jack Sparrow-like mascara, certainly isn’t getting the respect he feels he deserves.  

When Kirk’s mother (Joyce Cohen), who has secrets of her own, discovers him decked out in pirate duds and watching a pirate movie on TV in his room, she goes berserk. Refusing to admit he’s not a pirate, Kirk (Kirby Heyborne) leaves home to prove himself. He meets up with Flint Weaver (Trenton James), another pirate wannabe, and the two embark on an adventure involving plunder (hamburgers and such), swordplay (sort of), betrayal, a mysterious map, a cursed treasure, ghosts -- and a wonderfully bizarre villain (Larry Bagby).

Before making Pirates of the Great Salt Lake, director/writer E.R. Nelson and producer/co-writer Nathan Phillips asked themselves why people are so intrigued by pirates. Their answer? “Yes, rebels they were, but rebels who spent their time plundering, murdering, and destroying. Still, the myths of the good pirate or the moral bad-guy are what seem to attract…Ultimately, we feel that we identify with the freedom, the adventure, and the romantic ideal of sailing the great seas without a care in the world, not to mention getting rich while doing it.”

Choosing to shoot the sailing scenes on the Great Salt Lake gave filmmakers a chance to use some gorgeous landscapes and a sense of vastness in various scenes, but it’s the amusing sight of “true pirates” Kirk and Flint traveling in their rowboat -- with a tattered skull-and-crossbones flag blowing slightly in the wind -- that will please viewers the most.

All the actors seem to be having great fun with their roles here, and I’m happy to see such filmmaking creativity showcased in a low-budget movie like this one. It’s not surprising that Pirates of the Great Salt Lake is experiencing a successful run at film festivals this year.

(Produced by Blue Shift Films; not rated by MPAA. For more information, visit the film’s official website at www.piratesofthegreatsaltlake.com.)