The Magic's still there.....

Rating: 7/10 (11 January 2014)

In this fourth instalment in the POTC franchise, we see Captain Barbossa and Captain Jack Sparrow trying to locate the 'Fountain of Youth'. Barbossa's agenda is merely to recover the 2 chalices in order to appease his king. Captain Blackbeard (Ian McShane)also wants to discover the 'Fountain of Youth', but his agenda is to give himself eternal life. Along for the ride is Angelica Teach (Penelope Cruz) who is Blackbeard's daughter and an old flame of Sparrow's who also wants to get to the 'Fountain of Youth' to give herself life preserving qualities.
One thing I really liked about this entry is that it is well and truly back on track. We have more Jack Sparrow, plenty of fun and we also don't have the overly complicated plotting which we saw in the third film. This entry packs plenty of energy and some stellar performances (once again Depp and Rush don't disappoint and are clearly the best elements of not only this film, but of the entire franchise). Kevin McNally was also really good in the role of Gibbs and both him and Depp played off really well against each other - the scenes between Depp and McNally were probably the best in the film. Cruz was OK, but she was not in the same league as Depp or Rush (but she's so hot so I can forgive her for her average acting performance). It was also nice to see Stephen Graham in a minor role - I personally feel that he is an excellent actor and a massively underrated one at that.
One thing that's notable in this film is that there is virtually no CGI or special effects - this is not a criticism, in fact I welcomed it. It just goes to prove that these type of films don't need to rely on special effects to make a decent film. There seemed to be a lot of focus on the story and this entry (in terms of plotting and story structure) was much more cohesive than the third film.
The only thing that really bothered me about this film was the silly sub plot involving the mermaid Syrena and that bloke from Blackbeard's gang (sorry can't remember his name, but there again his acting was fairly forgettable as well). The romance was not only totally unbelievable (not to mention contrived), but it was also uninteresting and ultimately went nowhere. I really wish this pathetic sub plot had not been included in an otherwise excellent film.
In summary, this is an excellent entry in the franchise and is my second favourite film in the franchise (Curse of the Black Pearl is my favourite, but this comes in at a close second). I really enjoyed this film and I'm looking forward to the next entry in the franchise