Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun and action packed movie with lots of Captain Jack

Cons: Drags a bit at times

The Bottom Line: 

Captain Jack is back

With more swashbuckling fun and

A mostly new crew

"Captain, I Wish to Report a Mutiny.  I Can Name Fingers and Point Names."

Let's face it, everyone goes to see the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for one reason - Captain Jack Sparrow.  And that's why, if Disney was going to continue the franchise, it made sense to relaunch it focused more on Jack.  And that's just what they've done with On Stranger Tides.  It still doesn't quite recapture the magic of the first one, but it's fun.

On story opens in London where Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) is surprised to learn that he is outfitting a ship with a crew for a new voyage.  Since Jack is currently without ship or crew, it's quite a shock.  Confronting the imposter, he learns it is Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a fling from his past.

Next thing Jack knows, he's been shanghaied on the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the pirate all pirates fear, Blackbeard (Ian McShane).  He is in search of the fabled fountain of youth and thinks Jack has a map.  To complicate things, the Spanish have also launched an expedition to find it, and the British have enlisted Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to claim it first.  Will any of these groups find the fountain?

Those hoping for lots of Captain Jack will be thrilled because this is his movie.  The scenes without him are few and far between.  Johnny Depp is in find form here and easily cares the move with his antics as the title character.

The movie feels like it has been pulled back from the wild excesses of the second and third in the series, which is a good thing.  Those movies, while they had their moments, felt more like excuses for special effects held together by the thinnest of plots.  Here, we actually get a coherent story again.  I wouldn't say the characters are fully developed, but they work for the piece.

My only real gripe with the film is the pacing.  It's over two hours, and it felt it.  Actually, I feel like they could have easily cut out the Spanish without changing much at all in the film.  A little more comedy might have helped as well.

While the special effects have been toned back, they are still present and very well done.  I had no trouble buying anything I saw on the screen.

The rest of the cast has a challenge making themselves obvious opposite Johnny Depp, and they do a good job.  In addition to Depp and Geoffrey Rush, Kevin McNally is also back as first mate Gibbs.  I had a lot of fun watching the three of them on screen again.  The new to the franchise cast brings their characters to life and make memorable contributions to the movie.  I will say I missed Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, but as the longer the movie went on, the less I even though about them.

In many ways, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a reboot of the franchise.  If you haven't seen the others, there is little here that will confuse you.  Yet if you are already a fan, you'll find yourself on another fun pirate ride.