Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
by David
AHOY Matey! Welcome to Dave’s…REVIEW…OF…FISH!!!! Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum.
I have a certain fascination with pirates. They arrrrrrrr actually kind of cool…if you can overlook their disregard for proparrrrrrty…and their desire to loot, pillage, steal, rape, and murdarrrrrrr…wait a minute! They ARRRRRRRR cool!
I first thought they were cool playing some cheesy 4-color computer game on the family’s 486 (“Pirates of the Barbary Coast” perhaps). In that game, it felt like pirates were simply traders and most battles were between you, the “good” pirate, versus a slew of “bad” pirates.
I thought they were cool enough to let “Muppet Treasure Island” be one of my favorite Muppet movies. And who could forget “Blackbeard’s Ghost”, another classic Disney adventure?
Finally, there was the classic ride at Disneyland. A ride that showed the adventurous life of a pirate, from the “playful” womanizing, to the comedic antics of the imprisoned pirates, to the epic battle of the pirate ships, to the wonderfully fun small roller coaster-ish drop. I went on that ride many times. Never once did I mention to anyone, "Hey, this ride would make a good movie." That would have led to me being committed, even if I was 9.
Yet, create movies based on it they did. The first in the series, "Curse of the Black Pearl", is, by far, and, inarguably, the best of the series. The adventure was fresh and fun, with an extraordinary blend of action, humor, horror, and cleverness. The next two were ok. Perhaps a bit too ambitious? Essentially, they made a six hour movie and broke it up into two parts. With the absurd number of twists and turns, combined with a ridiculous number of quests and bargaining, the six hour movie went a little overboard, so to speak. I do appreciate their moxy, though.
Part 4 is much more simplified. Running at a little over two hours, at no point did the movie feel tedious. And while I enjoyed the first three movies and its ongoing saga, I also have to point out how relieved I was for this movie to create a new standalone story. I would not have recognized how refreshing that was until I had actually seen this one. I think the first three movies ended up wearing me out by the end. It was to the point that I was not super-pumped to see the fourth movie in the series. Even without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Truth be told, as enjoyable as they were, to truly start a new adventure, it was for the best that they did not participate in this adventure.
And this new adventure was worth seeing. It brings to light the fun of the heartless Blackbeard and presents a journey to look for none other than the "Fountain of Youth". Captain Jack Sparrow goofiness abounds and a similar blend of action, humor, terror, and cleverness of the first one is found in this one. No, it is not as good as the first one, but it is a fun adventure and good enough for me to actually be excited to go see the 5th one, if there ever is a 5th one.
As a final side note, I’ve seen this movie in regular and 3D. I thought the 3D was fun, but may be the wrong person to get an opinion from. Unless done horribly, I’m a fan of 3D. Gimmicky as it is, I like being pulled just a little bit closer into a world of action, adventure, effects, and monkeys. Savvy?
