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The business function of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is very similar to that of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade": To set a moneymaking franchise back on track after an artistically disappointing predecessor.
Or in the case of "Pirates," predecessors, as both "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" were less fun than the first movie, "The Curse of the Black Pearl."
But through the frothy action and Johnny Depp's happily sozzled portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow, this fourth "Pirates" movie takes something else from the third "Indiana Jones" movie: Its basic plot.
Just as "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" set everyone on a globe-hopping search for the Holy Grail, everyone in "On Stranger Tides" is trying to find The Fountain of Youth. The three main factions on the search are: The nasty Capt. Blackbeard (Ian McShane), "the pirate all pirates fear"; Sparrow's old nemesis Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), under the commission of Britain's King George; and the Spanish, for reasons not immediately explained.
Sparrow is a free agent in this hunt, first captured by the British to aid Barbossa and later conscripted onto Blackbeard's crew. Getting drafted by Blackbeard has its compensations: Blackbeard's first mate is the alluring Angelica (Penelope Cruz), with whom Sparrow has a past relationship that occasionally re-ignites sparks.
The convoluted script, by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (back for their fourth turn at the franchise), decrees that acquiring the fountain's powers involves a ritual involving the tears of a mermaid. The mermaid Blackbeard's crew captures, Syrena (played by Spanish actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), ends up as part of the movie's most extraneous subplot, a romance with a blandly hunky missionary (Sam Claflin).
(Yes, Elliott and Rossio aren't above letting Sparrow get away with a joke that involves the words "missionary" and "position" - quite a feat for a Disney-branded movie. Meanwhile, the mermaid hunt may have the strangest inspiration for a popcorn movie action sequence, as it resembles the brutal dolphin slaughter show in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove.")
Director Rob Marshall (replacing Gore Verbinski) approaches action sequences as choreography, something he knows well from making "Chicago" and "Nine" (which earned Cruz an Oscar nomination). Since many of the action scenes are swordfights, which essentially are dance numbers, this tactic serves the movie well.
Mostly, Marshall works to keep the computer graphics from completely overwhelming the action, and staying out of the way of his cast. Depp and Cruz (who worked together in the 2001 cocaine drama "Blow") generate strong chemistry with their snappy banter. McShane ("Deadwood") and Rush are clearly having fun in their big pirate costumes, regularly chewing the scenery (and sticking their swords toward the camera, to make the 3-D conversion worth the effort).
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" sets the franchise back on course, though one might wish it was sailing off into the sunset. Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, though, may not be able to resist the lure of more money. In that way, movie studios and producers have a bit of pirate in them, too.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
This fourth installment sets the franchise back on course, with fun action and Johnny Depp's return to form as Capt. Jack Sparrow.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens Friday, May 20.
Rating • PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo.
Running time • 137 minutes. Seen it? Want to?
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