![]() That is thanks to a leaner script and, mercifully, a shorter running time (it is actually an hour shorter than the last one). ![]() "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is probably the best of the series since the first one. The movie pins the character down as if they are introducing him to be in a future movie. He is pure evil, right down to the buckles on his boots but the character doesn't leap out with the lip-smacking vileness that I had hoped. McShane is a wonderful actor but somehow Blackbeard seems subdued. Yet, I was surprisingly underwhelmed by Ian McShane's performance as Blackbeard. Penelope Cruz gives a nice performance here and proves - to me at least - that she should have been the female protagonist of the series all along instead of Kiera Knightly. ![]() Neither does Geoffrey Rush, in his third go-around as Captain Barbossa, which he plays with an evil wink and a pirate accent that he practically chews on. Eight years, and three sequels later, Depp maintains the fun spirit of the character and doesn't allow it to grow routine. The first film got him his first Oscar nomination, and justifiably so. He keeps from taking the film too seriously but avoids the temptation to make fun of the character. Johnny Depp maintains the same swagger and slurry charm that he had in the previous films. What keeps this series popular is quality control. I appreciated the mermaids but, this being a Disney film, the all-out boob-fest that should have ensued sadly never materializes. ![]() These films are constructed more as a series of set pieces rather than a narrative plot. Yet, what I have learned about this series is that the plot really doesn't matter. There probably wasn't any need for mermaids that can suck your blood, nor, all that stuff about voodoo and shrinking massive ships until you can fit them into bottles. There really isn't a need to get to the fountain of youth. The plot, as in the previous installments, is somewhat superfluous. As I said, it is more complicated than it needs to be. First, Jack learns, you must first get two goblets belonging to Ponce de León, then you have to mix it with the tears of a mermaid, then (I think I have this right), one person has to drink from one cup to become younger and then another person has to drink from the other and they will die. Getting to the fountain is easy enough, but then we learn that it is not a simple matter of taking a dip and becoming younger, no. The plot to get to the fountain of youth is probably more complicated than it needs to be. Then there is Angelica (Oscar winner Penelope Cruz), who is first mate on the ship captained by Blackbeard (Ian McShane) - whose beard is actually gray, but never mind. Trailing them are Jack and his nemesis Captain Barbossa (Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush), who is a privateer under the orders of King George II (Richard Griffiths). Jack makes a spectacular escape and the race is on race to find the fountain, which is headed off first by the Spanish fleet and then by the British fleet. That is, until one of his crew produces a map to the fabled Fountain of Youth, rumored to have been found 200 years before by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. The movie finds the ever-plucky sea-going rascal Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) once again in trouble with the King's court and about to be executed. With that, this is a kind of trimmed down POTC movie. Having left behind many of the familiar characters (Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightly and Jonathan Price are absent this time), the movie is free to find new characters and a new arena to play in. That's not good for what should be a simple pirate movie. My apprehension comes from the experience of the previous films, which I complained were too long and so overwritten as to become convoluted. Yet, as I always do, I allowed myself to be open minded (you never know when a movie will surprise you) and I found the movie quite enjoyable. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the third sequel in Disney's highly-successful series, is not a movie that I went into with much anticipation. As the fourth round approaches there's an apprehension of what has come before and what is new that is left to be discovered. In movies, as in marriage, the fourth go-around can get a little tricky.
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