Who would have thought that a franchise based entirely around a Disney theme park ride could turn into one of the most profitable of all time? The hijinks on the high seas of a certain Captain Jack Sparrow, for whatever reason, evidently struck a chord with audiences around the world.
The first film was a genuine delight, a fun and fast-paced adventure that left audiences practically drooling for me - figuratively speaking for most and I’m sure for Twilight-age teenage girls quite literally for the star of the franchise, Johnny Depp. The following two movies were a big let down however, with the second film, subtitled Dead Man’s Chest, setting the whole thing on a confusing and muddled course that the third film unfortunately kept on. The confusing messes of too many characters and plot threads, with the poorly executed romance between Kiera Knightley and Orlando Bloom weighing everything down.
Fortunately, however, Disney has decided to drop those two dead weights for the next installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, (in fact there is not so much as a mention of them) as well as bringing on Oscar-nominated director Rob Marshall (Chicago), meaning this is the first film in the franchise not to be directed by Gore Verbinski.
But the most important thing for the fourth film is that the focus is placed firmly back on the Captain Jack as it was in the first film, allowing him to once again exert that cheeky, cocky sometimes arrogant, but ultimately enjoyable routine he does that is a joy to watch. Unfortunately he is by far the most enjoyable thing about On Stranger Tides, an overly long (even at 147 minutes, the shortest since the first) and overblown blockbuster that lumbers from action scene to action scene with filler dialogue, often wooden in its grandiosity, and half-hearted (failed) attempts at emotional weight.
The story this time is that Captain Jack and just about every other person with the ability to walk (even if some of them only have one leg to speak of) is after the famous Fountain of Youth (no real explanation needed). Along the way Jack meets a former love, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), and the infamous Blackbeard (Ian McShane), both of whom are also after the Fountain of Youth and need to Jack to find it. Of course they do...
Despite an inspired choice of items to centre the fourth film (the Fountain of Youth is a well known myth already and seems perfectly suited to the Pirates franchise), the plot still has the stink of the last two on it. Although nowhere near as confusing or cluttered as those two, it nonetheless feels overstuffed and unnecessarily bulky. And in spite of Captain Jack’s off-beat charms working wonders in the film's favour (without him, god forbid, this might just have been as bad as the last one), the film often relies much too heavily on his character and the routine that comes with him, almost to the point of distraction.
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