Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Released in theaters May 20, 2011
My Rating: ★★★★☆
In the fourth installment of the popular Pirates films, Jack (Johnny Depp) and his mates are in search of the ever-elusive fountain of youth. He soon runs into an old flame, Angelica (Penélope Cruz) and discovers that she and her father, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), are also headed for the fountain. And they aren’t the only ones…
I was dying to see this movie the weekend it was released, but while my kids are still so young, it is essentially impossible to see a movie in the actual theater! Thank goodness for our local drive-in.
I’ll start with the bad news. This plot/script was the hardest to follow of all the Pirates movies. I don’t know what it was they did differently, but there were several times I had to stop and ask myself exactly what was going on. For one thing, there are several different groups in pursuit of the fountain—Jack, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and the British, the Spanish, Blackbeard and Angelica…I still can’t keep track of who all was involved! I really think they could have focused mainly on Jack and Blackbeard and let the rest fall into place, rather than jumping from here to there.
I was also sad that Will and Elizabeth weren’t involved in this film. It just felt empty at times without them. It could have been better if the other characters were utilized better in their scenes. Then again, adding Will and Elizabeth would have just meant more characters to keep up with!
Besides all that, Johnny Depp is, as usual, fabulous and completely redeems the film! There is the signature mix of the dramatic with his charismatic humor. It was nice to see Jack get his very own, serious, love interest, even if their relationship was anything but easy. I would have loved to have seen them together more!
I am definitely looking forward to Stranger Tides being released on DVD and Blu-ray. I think I really need to watch this again with my full attention to give it a truly fair review. I’ll try to update when that happens!!
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| This ain't your Little Mermaid!! |
