Movie Review #44: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Before I begin, I would like to say that this is my 50th post on the blog and I just want to say thank you to all of you guys who have been reading my reviews. I appreciate every one of your views!

In On Stranger Tides, Captain Jack is back and he is searching for the Fountain of Youth. But as it turns out, he isn't the only one.

As I said in my previous Pirates review, I think that this shouldn't be considered a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Here's why:

1. They spent very little time at sea. In the first three, the majority of them took place on either the Black Pearl, the Flying Dutchman or on a boat in general. There wasn't enough time at sea for it to be considered a Pirates movie. On Stranger Tides should have been called "The Adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow" or something along those lines.

2. This might sound rather ridiculous, but when I was re-watching this I found myself missing the crew of the Black Pearl. After watching the first three films, I grew to really like the characters. I missed Will and Elizabeth and yes, I know they wouldn't return for the fourth movie. But with them gone it felt like something was missing. I also really missed characters like Pintel and Ragetti, that one little person who's name I can't remember and even Jack the monkey. Even the Pearl itself wasn't in the movie!

That's why this shouldn't be considered a Pirates movie. There's another thing in this that I didn't like. They changed the character of Barbossa. He went from being a ruthless pirate lord to a privateer for King George. I understand why they changed his character and the story for his change is cool, but seeing Barbossa follow anyone's rules but his own made me feel that that wasn't Barbossa. At the end of the film, (Spoiler Alert,) Barbossa killed Blackbeard, resigned from his service to King George and became the captain of Blackbeard's ship. And before they sailed away, he put on the hat he wore in the first three films and then they set sail for Tortuga. That last scene was the only time that I saw Barbossa on screen. I hope that makes sense.

Even though I have been bashing this movie, there were some elements that I liked. Johnny Depp was hysterical. He hasn't been this funny since the first one. I enjoyed the adventure they went on. I loved the inclusion of the mermaids. And Penelope Cruz in anything is always a positive!

Judi Dench made a cameo that I didn't notice at first. So look for that.

Final Report: Even though I don't think that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides shouldn't be considered a Pirates movie. It had a good adventure, good humor and mermaids. So it could have been worse!