Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Movie Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Captain Jack Sparrow is back for another high seas romp and, despite the long running time, this is more freewheeling comedy than action adventure. And while it's hilarious fun, it's also so meandering that it's a bit dull.

In London, Jack (Depp) is brought before George II (Griffiths) so he can help the Brits beat the Spanish to the Fountain of Youth. But after an elaborate escape, Jack ends up in the crew of the ship captained by the evil Blackbeard (McShane) and his daughter Angelica (Cruz), with whom Jack has a past. So now Blackbeard, the Spanish and the British, led by Jack's old nemesis/pal Barbossa (Rush), are racing to the Caribbean to find the secret of immortality. And their first task is to capture a mermaid.

The script adds in a series of ludicrous hoops everyone must leap through before reaching their destination, like some sort of deranged videogame in which you need to collect two specific silver chalices and the tear of a mermaid in order to stage a ritual that will make the fountain work. All this does is send the film off on a series of nutty sideroads to stretch out a relatively simple plot and allow for more goofy banter between the characters.

And the banter isn't the problem: the superb actors deliver the cleverly witty dialog perfectly and building amusing tension between the each other that keeps us chuckling. More troublesome is the fact that all of this silliness is so irrelevant that we cease to be interested in the central plot, so it's hard to care when everything culminates in a big finale that feels strangely stolen from an earlier episode of this same franchise.

That said, it's thoroughly enjoyable and, working against-type, Marshall shows surprising skill at keeping the tone breezy, complete with some extremely clever 3D gags. Depp still manages to feel fresh in the role, and Cruz is a spicy foil for him. Meanwhile, Rush and McShane are having fun trying to out-camp Depp, while relative newcomers Claflin and Berges-Frisbey add strong sex appeal as a young cleric and a scared mermaid who fall for each other. All aboard for Part 5.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2011

Genre: Action/Adventure

Run time: 136 mins

In Theaters: Friday 20th May 2011

Box Office USA: $241.1M

Box Office Worldwide: $1B

Budget: $250M

Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures

Production compaines: Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Moving Picture Company (MPC)

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3.5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 33%
Fresh: 84 Rotten: 171

IMDB: 6.7 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Rob Marshall

Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer

Screenwriter: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio

Starring: Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Ian McShane as Blackbeard, Penélope Cruz as Angelica, Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, Gemma Ward as Tamara, Richard Griffiths as King George II, Stephen Graham as Scrum, Kevin McNally as Gibbs, Óscar Jaenada as Spaniard, Roger Allam as Henry Pelham, Keith Richards as Captain Teague, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey as Syrena, Sam Claflin as Philip, Judi Dench as High Society Lady, Damian O'Hare as Gillette, Richard Thomson as Derrick, Derek Mears as Master-at-Arms, Anton Lesser as John Carteret, Sebastian Armesto as King Ferdinand of the Spanish Empire

Also starring: Penelope Cruz, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Jerry Bruckheimer, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio