Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 4

This is a rather pointless movie to review. Either you've already made up your mind to go see Pirates 4 months ago OR you have zero desire to see it. This review is for that narrow segment of the population still on the fence. You saw and loved the first movie, but the second and third movies you found lacking.

The story is pretty evident from the trailer so I'm gonna talk about the craftsmanship. The first movie was inspired. They had a great idea for a movie and tied it to a major studio. They didn't try to force it to have anything to do with the Disney ride. In fact the ride was redone to match the movie.

The second and third movies were forced. Disney said "holy crap! We made a movie that was well received. We've heard of such a thing, but it's been so long since we've done it ourselves! Writers! Get us two more of the same thing!" And as tends to happen when a movie is forced from profit motive instead of inspiration, it wasn't that hot.

For this fourth movie they've done something unique. They've used someone else's inspiration. We've all seen movies based on books. In this case they took a pirate novel that predates the movies, "On Stranger Tides" by Tim Powers, and adapted it for their series. And they didn't try to force characters into the movie that just wouldn't fit. Kiera and Orlando and most of the military folk just would have been too awkward to cram in there. Some studios would try. Disney would normally try. But they don't. Not this time.

So I'd put this movie between the original and the two-part sequel. More toward the original.

Will I get it on DVD? I dunno. I got the original, but not the sequels. I liked this movie, but don't feel the need to watch it over and over.