After a disappointing third film I can’t say I was expecting a lot from On Stranger Tides. While, yes, it seemed like there was set up for a fourth film at the end of At World’s End it also seemed entirely pointless. So I went in hoping for the best but expecting very little.

And the film begins and very predictable from the outset, but in no time we get in to one of those over the top and ridiculous, yet entertaining, Jack Sparrow action sequences. With Jack and Gibbs being taken to the Tower of London, and Jack is taken to talk to the King, it seems the Spanish may have found a way to the Fountain of Youth and rumour has it Jack knows the way there, so the King wants Jack to show his new Privateer, Captain Barbossa, the way to the fountain. Cue Jack’s escape and eventual arrival The Captain’s Daughter, a bar, where rumour has it Captain Jack Sparrow is recruiting a crew, only it’s not Jack.

Inside Jack decides to confront the imposter, who acts and dresses exactly like him. They fight each other to a stand still, when Jack kisses his imposter. Turns out (unsurprisingly) he is a she, Angelica, and she is someone Jack loved and left years before. She’s getting a crew together to go looking for the Fountain of Youth, too. With the King’s men finding him, Jack and escape, then Jack is drugged and wakes up on a ship already out at sea. He’s been shanghaied and brought about Black Beard’s ship. They’re trying to collect the items needed for the ritual you need to perform to make the Fountain of Youth work, a mermaid’s tear and chalices from Ponce De Leon’s ship. All the while trying to stay ahead of the Spanish and Captain Barbossa.

So that’s the basics of the plot, and yeah some of it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, not that any of them did, really, so don’t think to hard and enjoy if you can. The film is a little over long, coming in at 2 and a quarter hours, but it just about manages to stay entertaining the whole way through. Though I just couldn’t shake the feeling that they were trying too hard to recapture what made the first one so fun and mostly failing, but managing to be better than the previous effort at least.

Johnny Depp is Jack the same as he ever was, and the rest of the cast pull off their roles well so no complaint in the acting department, and it’s a big budget film so no complaints about the effects or production, but overall the film seems to be retreading old ground, relying on people enjoying it for Jack’s antics, which admittedly is the biggest draw of these films anyway. I saw it in 2D and from what I saw there was no reason to see it in 3D, there was maybe 3 shots where the 3D would have been useful and they were all obviously just put in for the 3D anyway, thrusting a sword out of the screen, that kind of thing.

So overall a somewhat mediocre film, which is mildly enjoyable most of the way through, a good couple of laughs but not much more. Your basic popcorn film really.