It delivers on the action, comedy, and visuals, but lacks in coherent screen writing and direction.

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2011)

In On Stranger Tides, Johnny Depp returns as everyone's favorite rum guzzling, scenery chewing swashbuckler from the Pirates of the Caribbean saga, Captain Jack Sparrow.
Several years after the events of At World's End, Jack is in London seeking a crew and a ship to set forth on a journey for the legendary Fountain of Youth, but after a chance meeting with an old flame of his named Angelica (Played by the lovely Penelope Cruz), he is brought aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, a ship captained by the merciless Blackbeard (Played by Ian McShane), who is seeking the fountain for his own selfish needs, and who may possibly be Angelica's father. Meanwhile, Barbossa (Played by Geoffrey Rush), now a privateer for the English crown, is also on an expedition for the fountain, but above all else, has a personal score to settle with Blackbeard.
The film is directed by Rob Marshall, the man behind Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, taking over the helm from Gore Verbinski, which is the first problem that this movie has. It's not that Marshall's direction is terrible, but it feels stylistically disjointed from the previous installments. The movie's screenplay also features moments of lazy writing, and quite a few incomprehensible subplots. But it's a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, so you know what you're getting: an admirable cast, highly effective humor, and fast paced action sequences, such as one particularly outstanding, and unsettling mermaid attack sequence.
Another problem I have with the film, albeit to a lesser extent, is how it sounds. This isn't a knock against the creative effects, or another great score by Hans Zimmer, accompanied this time around by Mexican musical duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, but sometimes during the film, the blend of ringing swords, cannon fire and French horns mixed with the somewhat chaotic nature of the action scenes can become a bit bludgeoning.
Still, like the previous entries, the film is typically beautifully designed through the great visual effects, lovely sets and costumes by John Myhre and Penny Rose, and incredible makeup work on mermaids, zombies, and injured sailors, so you can expect to hear me singing the praises of makeup designers Joel Harlow and Peter King for the rest of the year.
On a final note, I do admit that the series has become a big cash cow, and with each new installment it had been getting worse, but I think this one is pretty much on par with the last installment. It's not a good movie, but it's fun enough.
So I'm gonna give On Stranger Tides a tepid **1/2 out of ****