Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Review

The first thought that came to mind while viewing my screening of Disney’s latest romp through the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was, oddly enough…Tomb Raider.  This was actually a good thing.  Because this was a much better Tomb Raider film than the Tomb Raider films were.  The next franchise I felt heavily “although probably indirectly, or hopefully indirectly, I should say” that I was compelled to watch immediately after was Indian Jones…one of my childhood loves.  Again, a good thing, although nothing beats the original.

However, there is definitely something to be said about a franchise that becomes way more serious than it ought to be and way heavier than a Disney attraction should ever call for finding a way to restart itself successfully.  I do admit, Stranger Tides I believe has successfully done that very thing.

Now I am a huge Johnny Depp fan.  I’m also a big fan of Disney, and this franchise is definitely a 3 piece set in my BluRay collection.  Since I do find this chapter far more entertaining than the second one, it isn’t difficult to predict that when this one hits BluRay it too will find a home on my shelf.  But why?  What merits this film to be a viable venture back to this series, other than the massive amounts of money I predict it to somewhat deservedly make?

It’s good old fashioned fun!  It really is!  And that’s something that was starting to fade in this franchise.  I mean, to be quite frank, even though it should be, this franchise is about as easy to follow as a jack rabbit in tall grass while being blindfolded when it comes to the shorelines and ease of accessibility per say, but the first one wasn’t difficult at all, and that’s the way it should be!  The following two only had one giant flaw in my book and that was how difficult they became.  Well this film, it resets the difficulty level back down to not quite easy, but easy enough to blissfully enjoy.  The only other big problem the film has is never feeling tension or worried about anybody really,  I was never really worried about what would happen to any of the characters, and neither were they!  That’s an issue, and I’m not quite sure how I still enjoyed it as much as I did.

I don’t think seeing it in 3D is necessary, but nevertheless, it was fun to do so.  I get annoyed by things that purposely come out of the screen at you, but this is a Disney film at the end of the day, and it isn’t shocking when it happens.  That’s all I have to say on the 3D aspect of this all.  I will say it is on the higher end of 3D, it’s Not quite Avatar class 3D “but nothing is” but it is Tron worthy 3D, and that’s saying something.

I have been avoiding the story purposely so far, but I will sum up quickly and spoiler free that this journey takes you on a race between two sides to find and claim the fountain of youth, for very different reasons, that Captain Jack’s ex girlfriend is really hot (Penelope Cruz, so…duh), that Captain Blackbeard doesn’t come off as dangerous as he should considering whom he historically was, that any of you hoping for Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom’s character’s shorelines to be either wrapped up, or hell, even acknowledged, are in for a huge disappointment, and that the mermaids that we grew up fantasizing about, will get psychotically owned and murdered by the mermaids this film asks you to exist.  Also, I love mermaids and while it was fun to see them re-imagined as the viscous creatures that all but one of them in this film come off as, I was definitely wanting to wipe them from my memory with a little Ariel and “Under the Sea” magic afterwards.

At the end of the day, the Pirates franchise has definitely got it’s groove back, but at the price of a few loose ends and a general lack of tension in the film.  I give Pirates of the Caribbean a healthy 3 out of 5 stars.

-maikerukun