Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - New Movie Review

When the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film came out, I thought it was a breath of fresh air. It felt new and surprising. The second film, while not as good as the first, I thought was brilliant because of how the plot for the sequel was taken from the first film without the first film actually setting it up. The third film was still fun, but it was too dramatic, long and complicated. When I learned of a fourth movie that would wipe clean the slate and just focus on Captain Jack, I was excited. Unfortunately, my excitement was rewarded with a movie that was just okay.

The story focuses on Captain Jack being forced to help search for the Fountain of Youth. Along the way he runs into his old nemesis Barbosa, played again to perfection by Geoffry Rush. In this film he has become an intriguing character and if Disney and Depp should decide to return to this franchise again, having Barbosa become the main villain would be a wise decision. Penolope Cruz and Ian McShane team up as Blackbeard and his daughter. The Cruz character was slightly interesting and was a good romantic foil for Jack, but her devotion to her father was annoying. I felt as though the movie wasted the character of Blackbeard though. Here is the most fearsome pirate ever, a real person, and they just made him be angry and surly all the time. He is easily the lamest villain that they have come up with yet.
The plot itself was okay, it felt a little jumbled with a ritual that once revealed, anyone could figure out how it was going to end. It was filled with unnecessary moments. The Spanish were part of the movie that made them seem like a dangerous threat, but they basically just did one thing and then left. The extra mermaid/missionary subplot was useless and didn’t really have proper closure. I felt nothing for any of these new characters.

The movie was still a success during its first weekend and I don’t think that Disney will let go of this golden goose any time soon. Hopefully the next one will return us to the land of pirate fun where that first movie lived. It gets 2 out of 5 stars.