Everything is still there, but the magic is gone

Rating: 4/10 (29 May 2017)

I know many will disagree with me, but here's what I think after watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
I re-watched the original trilogy (i.e. Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest and At World's End) again before going to the cinemas for Dead Men Tell No Tales. And when the heroic score of the Pirates sounded and the end credits rolled, I was utterly disappointed.
I disagreed with the critics on PotC 2 and 3. I found them funny, heartbreaking and very entertaining movies. Since many people said this movie was an improvement over On Stranger Tides, I went in with an expectation - not a huge one, but one nonetheless. However, as the film progressed, as much as I wanted to enjoy it, I discovered that I couldn't. The movie was simply bad.
I remember loving the crew of the Black Pearl, from the ever-loyal Mr. Gibbs to Cotton and his parrot. I treated them as a family. The crew was still here in this one (albeit missing a few members), but I just couldn't find that chemistry between them anymore.
Captain Jack Sparrow was still portrayed by Johnny Depp, but it became clear after a while that his only direction from the directors was, "Do what you want with him." We didn't love Jack Sparrow because he's drunk, we loved him because he's drunk and has a heart. The few moments of Jack's sentimentality in the original trilogy are the highlights of the movies. However, in this one, Jack Sparrow is just a ghost of himself. The drunkenness is pushed to an extreme, and there are no more wit and heart in his words. And it became apparent that the sole purpose of Jack's existence in this movie is to fall around and provide one-liners to squeeze a few laughs out of the audience.
New faces Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites are welcome at first, but they can never replace Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner - not because they act badly, but because after some minutes into this movie, I finally realized the Pirates series are built upon Elizabeth and Will. They are the jewel of the franchise, and I teared up for them once again during the last 2 minutes before the credits rolled. Those last 2 minutes are the only redeeming quality, and I feel like they deserve a much better movie. Their reunion on the island are both joy and sadness for me, because I know that from now on, the Pirates franchise (if Disney intends to produce more), will probably never reach the heights of the original trilogy again.
Many critics say that the plot is convoluted and bloated, but I disagree. To a certain extent, dissecting the absurdly convoluted plot is part of the joy of watching PotC. Every detail counts and everyone has their own plots and schemes. This is what defines the entire series, and makes the movies so entertaining. To me, the plot is not the problem, the writing is. The witty banters that I loved are gone, and in their places dull exposition dumps.
Disney wanted to stuff everything they think people loved about PotC into Dead Men Tell No Tales, but those are often the wrong things. And it distresses me to say that the magic has vanished, replaced by a mere parody of the once-great movies.