The English sailing team, comprised of a motley crew, races against impeccably dressed Spanish rivals in search of the Fountain of Youth. Their odds are suspiciously reminiscent of last year’s World Cup. Jack Sparrow (Depp), accompanied by a retired beauty-nun (Cruz) and her sinister father (McShane), follows a parallel course.
Those who dreaded radical changes can breathe a sigh of relief. Compared to the Verbinski trilogy, only nuances have changed in the new installment. Perhaps to emphasize how deeply hidden the source is, the sun never shines in almost all the places where our heroes roam. Although, maybe 3D just looks more impressive on a dark background.
Key Facts About the Movie
- The film is intended to be the first part of a new trilogy.
- Depp agreed to participate in the project before the script was written.
- The film is partially based on Tim Powers’ adventure novel “On Stranger Tides” (1988).
A Shift in Focus
Surprisingly, Barbossa turns out to be one of the most well-developed and charming characters. He has legalized himself as an honest privateer, although the wooden leg makes him even more like a caricature of a pirate. There is noticeably less sentimentality. However, due to the absence of Knightley and Bloom, the authors now had to hang the conditional “love line” on poor grimacer Sparrow (and a little bit on completely minor characters). Therefore, there is no breathing room from Depp, of whom there was already too much from a dramaturgical point of view in the previous parts: he does not move the story and is needed only because he is Johnny Depp and we love him. As a symbol of the franchise, an expensive elite brand, he appears in almost every scene, joining first one, then another opposing side, and, contrary to logic, does not arouse the slightest suspicion from either.
A Carnival of Adventure
In general, meaningfulness is not the most obligatory component of children’s cinema, and Rob Marshall understands this perfectly. The film is correctly built on the principle of a buffet canapé: circus reprises are neatly inserted into the gaps between the striking stunt episodes (there are also small masterpieces: for example, the scene with the donut), while the puff pastry itself remains surprisingly light, as they say, in one bite.
Taking a little of everything and not bothering with details, musical lover Marshall finally turned the Disney pirate fuss into a family carnival with zombies and mermaids. The latter, apparently, the director especially likes, it is not for nothing that he repeatedly draws our attention to how carefully their tails are drawn. Well, yes, the tails are nothing.