Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean III: At Worlds End, and now the long awaited sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean IV: On Stranger Tides. Finally we get the return of the notorious and guyliner-wearing Jack Sparrow. Sorry, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley aren’t in this one, but that has no impact in this new and controversial pirate adventure.

Two sailors are fishing in the sea when their net brings up a seaweed-covered man with a book. They bring him to Spanish royalty who realize that the book holds the secrets of the Fountain of Youth. Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) old friend Gibbs is being about to be hanged as Jack, so he steps in to save them both by impersonating a judge. All seems to be going well until they’re taken into custody by King George, who wants him to find the legendary Fountain of Youth before the Spanish. He also introduces his new royal privateer, Jack’s old frenemy, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Separating from the story in the first three movies, Jack sets off with Blackbeard and his crew to find the Fountain of Youth. But he’s not the only one looking for it; Blackbeard, the Spaniards, and Royal privateers led by Barbossa race against each other to find the Fountain. Along the way they encounter vicious mermaids and search for ingredients for a ritual to power the Fountain’s magic. In place of Elizabeth Swann there is Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a woman from Jack’s past that seems to be following in his footsteps both in looks and personality.

Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands) replays Jack exactly the same way. Pretty much most of Depp’s characters are almost exactly the same: flashy and wise-cracking. But no matter how many times he plays the same character with different names, they never get old, and he will always play them excitingly and well. Cruz (Vicki Christina Barcelona, Nine) is a very talented actress, someone who everybody knows but can’t think of a movie she’s in that’s not in Spanish. She is usually type-cast as a headstrong woman, and this role is the same. She plays the female counterpart of Jack Sparrow so well, but it was awkward to hear her say phrases like, “Steady as she goes” because her accent is almost too elegant to be piratey. Otherwise, she was perfect. Rush (The King’s Speech), my personal favorite, reprises his role as the scraggly and hateful yet lovable Barbossa with a flair that makes me think of an old sweet dog.

Director Rob Marshall (Annie, Chicago, Nine, Memoirs of a Geisha) is known for his musicals, not his action. The first three movies were directed by Gore Verbinski, and you can see the difference between the old and new movies. It seems that the cast and crew were mostly on their own, without direction, and that affected the quality of the movie. Marshall needs to improve on his directing when it comes to action films.

On Stranger Tides is definitely different from the other movies. It wasn’t as good as the first or second but it was at about the same level as the third one. There’s a clever reuse of the lines in the previous films that add to the comedy. It wasn’t the best one, but it wasn’t terrible. Jack acts the same, meaning you never know whose side he’s on and what his endgame in. Also, I hear a lot of people complaining that there’s no Will and Elizabeth in this movie. When Will, Elizabeth, and Jack were together, Jack was by far the most interesting character and everybody’s favorite. We already know about the others’ history, and considering their current posts, Will and Elizabeth are a bit occupied at the moment. He’s off playing captain to the Flying Dutchman and she has a kid at home, so we should all be grateful to Jack for being so selfish.

Another complaint I hear is that Jack is too much of a wuss here; no he’s not! He’s like this in every movie, very free and doing whatever he wants until there’s a gun pointed at him. Then he’s very compliant.

I saw this movie in both 2D and 3D and there really isn’t any difference. In the regular version, there is a scene where the camera work changes and you can see that it was intended to be in 3D because it looked sped-up and unreal. The 3D doesn’t even play that big a part and is pretty much useless. My biggest complaint would have to be the subplot romance between two minor characters; it just seemed pointless, or bad compensation for Will and Elizabeth.

In hindsight, I guess the romance could be important to the story, but it could have been improved greatly. The involved actors weren’t that good anyway, so it took away from the performance, too. Some parts of the movie did drag occasionally, and there was an emphasis on the action rather than the dialogue. SIDE NOTE: There are hints at another sequel, including a post-credits scene.

While this wasn’t the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie, I think it’s unfair to say it sucked. Loyal fans of the movies may love it but loyal fans of Jack Sparrow may watch this and be outraged. I suggest you go see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides for yourself, because I truly enjoyed watching this new installment and I’m hoping for a fifth one to tie up all the story lines.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is rated PG-13.