On Stranger Tides reunites some of the cast of the original Pirates of the Caribbean but the film just rehashes the same type of meandering plot that the sequels provided too much of.
Film making 10/25
Video 22/25
Audio 23/25
Bonus Features 10/25
Total 65/100
When will they ever learn, sequels need to have careful thought and even better action to make them at least as good as the original and worthwhile. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a pretty good film but the series has been trying to run on the popularity of the original and falling far short.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides brings back Jack Sparrow and a few other familiar faces but the film lacks the originals acting skill and focused plot. On Stranger Tides takes too much plot and tosses in too much of Johnny Depp as well to work at confusing the audience and losing the magic of the main characters acting skill.
Johnny Depp stars as Captain Jack Sparrow searching for the fountain of youth with old enemies close behind while Angelica played by Penelope Cruz both impersonates him and helps. Jack Sparrow is charged by King George to find the fountain with Captain Barbossa heading the expedition but Jack escapes custody.
Jack hears someone is impersonating him and finds Angelica putting together a crew as Jack Sparrow so they board Captain Blackbeard’s ship to find the fountain. Captain Blackbeard, Angelica’s father, leads the group to catch a mermaid then find the two chalices that belonged to Ponce De Leon in order to attain youth from the fountain.
Two people are required to drink the water from the fountain at the same time, one drinks the water with a tear from the mermaid to become young. The person who drinks from the cup without the tears of a mermaid gives their life force or something like that to the other dies.
Fate has determined that Blackbeard will meet a one legged man who will kill him so he wants to drink from the fountain to turn the fortune around somehow. In a fracas at the fountain Angelica wishes to sacrifice herself to save her father but Jack tricks them and gives the chalice with the mermaid tear to Angelica.
Both Barbossa and the Spanish have attacked the group of Sparrow, Blackbeard and Angelica with Blackbeard getting stabbed with a poisoned sword by Barbossa. Angelica cuts herself removing the sword so in order for her to save her father she tells Sparrow to give her the drink without the mermaid tear.
Angelica is healed and her father dies so the end comes with Jack stranding her on a deserted island to be picked up by a passing ship, ain’t love grand. Jack leaves her there because she is mad he tricked her but the real end is when Jack meets his first mate and gets his ship back, but it has been shrunk and stuffed in a bottle.
Pretty much a plot for the next film if there ever was one but the problem here is that they should have had a different writer for this film. The story is convoluted and drives away the audience with the subplots and lack of a focused theme that is easier to follow throughout the film.
On Stranger Tides follows pretty much with the other two sequels with a convoluted story that winds up confusing instead of entertaining. Johnny Depp, even though likeable, becomes pretty tiresome in his usual role while the two captains wind up being much better at keeping the film centered.
On Stranger Tides is not really worth a visit even for a rental as the film just falls short as entertaining just like the other two sequels. Video and audio for the Blu-ray edition are great and even if the film lacks an inventive story it looks great and sounds fantastic.
Video has a clear look and great color while the audio has a good use of surround and clear voice for the most part, those pirate voices can be difficult at times but what do you expect. I saw no problems in either audio or video but the bonus content is not very good which is kind of surprising, I guess they saved the best for later editions.
Bonus features include Disney’s Second Screen feature, an audio commentary, bloopers and Lego Pirates clip set that is good but the others are not all that great. The audio commentary is your usual talk about the film with plenty of informative and enjoyable making of features.
The bloopers is only 3 minutes long and too quick as well as mostly just fast shots of goofy faces but the Lego clips are great with scenes form the films story acted out by cute Lego characters. The Lego feature and the audio commentary are worthwhile but that about sums up the bonus content on the Blu-ray edition of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
On Stranger Tides is one of those films that pretty much sums up sequels for most every film, not worth seeing even as a rental. I really hate to say it but Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a must skip film but if you really need to just rent it.