Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Keith Richards
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) sets sail to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.

Review:

Tim: After the conclusion of the first trilogy, I was excited to see the franchise expand into new territory. I wasn't sure about the move to jettison Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, and focus exclusively on Jack Sparrow. However, I was excited to see how it all came together. The answer, at least here, is very poorly. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is by far the worst film in the franchise, and represents a massive drop in quality from the terrific first film. I'm actually saddened by this trend. This is the first Pirates movie I just clearly didn't like.

This franchise has been on a clear downward spiral since the first film. The second and especially the third had their flaws, but they were solid pieces of entertainment. This fourth film lost what made the movies special. There's no real heart or spirit here. The movies have always been campy, but this movie just seems silly and ridiculous. This movie failed.

The story is pretty much a gigantic mess. I like the idea of Jack Sparrow searching for the fountain of youth, but the film feels like several different ideas all smashed together. We start out with Jack impersonating a judge, followed by a huge chase through the streets, a subplot about someone impersonating him (which was both overtly obvious and very silly), a race to the fountain, mermaids, cups, the Spanish, and a bunch of other loosely connected events. The film never felt like it had real direction.

As much as I love Johnny Depp as Jack, I think he needs to take several years off to let audiences miss this character. He's good, but there's not a lot he can do when the plot is so silly. I thought Geoffrey Rush was good, but it's probably time to let Captain Barbossa do his own thing (i.e, not appear in Pirates 5. I thought Ian McShane was a great addition as Captain Blackbeard. This is where the franchise needs to head- introducing cool new characters for Sparrow to interact with. Penelope Cruz's character never felt right. She's Blackbeard's daughter (or she isn't), she has a history with Sparrow, and throughout all of this, I found myself not really caring. I didn't think she did a great job, and wasn't especially good opposite Depp. I like the idea of her casting, but it just didn't work. I did like the introduction of the new characters of the preacher and the mermaid, and their star-crossed love. This movie needs characters like this, but I felt like it was too much of a "we need to replace Will and Elizabeth!" Sam Claflin and Astrid Berges-Frisbey both did very, very well. Unfortunately, Sam's not Orlando Bloom and Astrid is not Keira Knightley. I also thought Keith Richards' inclusion was pointless and stupid. It felt like they were saying, "Hey, remember when we cast Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow's dad! That was cool..." It wasn't here.

I'm being very hard on this film. There were some things I really did like. There's some legitimately good action sequences. I like how this film tried to maintain the action and supernatural elements of the previous movies. Here, we got zombies, mermaids, and of course, the fountain of youth. The balance between the realistic and fantastic was pretty good. Jack Sparrow is such a good character, so he'll always have a few funny moments. This movie wasn't all bad.

However, as a whole, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides represents a huge disappointment for the franchise. I know the movie was trying to reform the franchise to focus on smaller (read cheaper) stories. Without as much spectacle, this movie was bound to feel less impressive. However, that's no excuse for a movie that simply wasn't enjoyable to watch. Director Rob Marshall mishandled the franchise here. Gore Verbinski always kept the movies moving, even though they were overly complex and confusing. I always felt like there was a reason to care. Marshall's film loses that sense of excitement and importance. I thought this was only a decent movie, which is quite a shame.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Edward Scissorhands, Benny and Joon, Troy, The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End