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Pirates of the Caribbean is back with another installment in the series,
but this time without two of the original cast members (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley), can this franchise survive
without two of the leading actors in front of the camera?
Pirates of the Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he embarks to find the Fountain of Youth.
Penélope Cruz takes over the role of supporting actress and a possible love interest to Jack Sparrow.
Personally, I feel Penélope Cruz was a better fit in this franchise than Keira Knightley ever was, so I had
no ill will towards the decision to keep Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom out of this title. And to be
honest, the story wouldn’t have made any sense – since their story was wrapped up in the third installment.
In fact, I think it’s rather bold that they branched off to create a new installment with all new cast members
and a new storyline – it was a bold move, but they actually made it work.
I
could do without the whole opening sequence. Especially the part where he is trying to escape, and in order
to do so he jumps from stagecoach to stagecoach, on people’s heads, and on boards that people are carrying (without
anyone noticing or reacting accordingly). The whole sequence reminded me of those classic Disney movies
from the 90’s, I expected to see Captain Jack Sparrow break into song. If you can get past this scene
(which is not easy to do – especially since you have to watch the worst overacting in Pirates history: King George
II, played by Richard Griffiths) – but if you can get past that scene the story will kick in and the quality of
the film does get better.
Along this epic journey we are introduced
to many new characters that were all entertaining in their own way. First, there is Blackbeard, played
by the talented Ian McShane. Blackbeard had a strong eerie presence when he is first introduced half way
into the movie, but that presence seems to change shortly after. He is shown as this strong character that
can manipulate items on his ship as if he were controlling it with his mind, but later in the movie he comes across as a helpless
pirate. There should have been more character development with Blackbeard – or at least character
development that made sense to the audience.
Johnny Depp’s performance
as Captain Jack Sparrow, although it’s still great, it is starting to get a little tiresome and old. I
don’t know if I’m just getting tired of his eccentric movement or dialog, but it’s not as entertaining as
it once was. I still enjoy it, but he just needs to step it down a notch.
I highly enjoyed the addition of the mermaids. Very much like vampires, the mermaids would trap
unsuspecting seamen with their good looks and charm – and then try to eat them with their vampire like fangs.
I thought it was a nice twist to the mermaid mythology.
There is one more scene I feel I should mention – or warn you about. By far, the worst scene
in this movie features two pirates tied to palm trees. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Jack Sparrow
are both tied to palm trees near the end of the movie – somehow Jack is able to untie his hands and scale the giant
palm tree while still tied to it. The ropes, which are still wrapped around his torso, give just enough
slack that allows him to push himself up the tree itself – even over the top of the palm tree – which is by far
a lot larger than the trunk itself. I know these movies don’t logically have to make sense, but this
scene steps over that boundary of ridiculousness. While on top of the giant palm tree he then uses the
rope to slingshot himself from tree to tree. I haven’t seen a scene this cartoonish since Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where Shia LaBeouf is swinging from tree to tree with a group of monkeys.
The
Bottom Line: I feel the movie is a bit long (just a few minutes over two hours), if they were to cut the
opening sequence and a few more unnecessary moments – it would have been a better film. I never cared
for Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley that much, so I really didn’t miss them – and Penélope Cruz does a
great job. I still think it was a fun movie, but there were just one too many cartoonish sequences that
lowered the movie's quality – but it was a lot better than Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
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