When Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with the enigmatic Angelica, he's not sure if it's love -- or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the "Queen Anne's Revenge," the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard, Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know whom to fear more: Blackbeard or Angelica, with whom he shares a mysterious past.

Somewhere along the way the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise completely lost its way. The first film was nothing short of a masterpiece and while the two sequels that followed it were fun and entertaining they just didn’t hold up to that first movie. Now we are onto the fourth installment of the series and we can’t help but yawn with boredom as the films are no longer that good, no longer that entertaining and almost just seem the like a pointless cash grab. It was bound to happen how much story can you bleed out of what was originally just a Disneyland amusement park ride. Sure On Stranger Tides can be fun, it can be entertaining, it has elements of the first film that made the series so successful but at the same time the movie just gets bogged down and creates a yawn for you as the audience.

The yawn mostly comes from the ho hum story that just really never draws you in. Sure there is plenty of action and lots to like about the film but when it starts in on its plot and story you just find yourself slowly drifting away. The search for the Fountain of Youth should have been more exciting, it should have been more entertaining the fact of that matter was that it wasn’t. I think they might have done better just focusing on Blackbeard and making it a true Pirate movie instead of trying to weave a tale of mysticism that leaves you yawning. There was a story to be told they just didn’t tell the right one.

Removing Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly from the film was a two edged sword. On the one hand neither character had anything more to offer the franchise and it is almost a sigh of relief to see them gone. On the other hand that leaves Captain Jack Sparrow as the lone character to try and sell the movie. Captain Jack always worked better in an ensemble cast being able to play off the other characters and not having to lift the entire story and movie on his back. By removing all the other characters it is now all about Sparrow and he just isn’t interesting enough to sell the movie as we already know everything we needed to know about the Captain.

Johnny Depp is an old hand at the role of Sparrow by now and he brings that same glee and childlike excitement to the fourth film. The supporting cast just isn’t there this time to help him out. Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa is just more of a sidenote to the series and always will be. And Penelope Cruz as the new love interest and old flame from Sparrow’s past only really seems to slow down the movie. It seems every time her and Depp are on screen together the film almost comes to a screeching halt. On Strangers Tide is an ok action film but is way too boggled down to be worth much more than a rental or a matinee.

Grade: C+