Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Review

This movie started off with tons of potential. We have Jack Sparrow back in a different part of the world looking for the Fountain of Youth. We come across some new characters also looking for the Fountain like Angelica, played by Penelope Cruz, a former love interest of Jack Sparrow and daughter to this film's villain, Blackbeard. Which gives Angelica similar vibes to Jack Sparrow in the first film in terms of not exactly knowing where her alliengcanes lie and whether or not we can trust her. On top of that, Blackbeard is over-the-top fun and menacing with a great design. Add in the fun and adventourous tone with exciting action and good comedy and we have the groundwork for an excellent Pirates movie. However, we have to bring back Barbossa, bring back the English, bring in the Spanish and bring in an unneccasary love plot between a missionary on Blackbeards ship and a Mermaid that is the key to unlocking the Fountain of Youths powers. These are the problems of the film because our main story could never get the emotional investment it requires because the film is constantly trying to juggle all these other story elements. And in the end, our climax is extremely underwhelming and the emotional impact is severely lessened. A fun movie overall, but definitely with it's flaws.