This is what I had hoped Pirates sequels would be like

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2011)

I really enjoyed it! :) I'm a Jack Sparrow fan, and I had absolutely LOVED The Curse of the Black Pearl, and it's one of my favorite movies to this day. I was less enthusiastic about Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, because I felt that they were needlessly complicating, but I still enjoyed the humor.
On Stranger Tides retains that POTC humor which makes the movies so special. It has some great scenes between Johnny Depp (Sparrow) and Geoffrey Rush (Barbosa), and a lot of those serious-but-funny moments. Penelope Cruz (Angelica) was great and she fit right in with the cast and with the story. Ian McShane, (Blackbeard) I felt didn't live up to his character. Davy Jones had been a much better villain.
The reason this movie worked was because they finally decided to end the Will/Elizabeth story. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but had they tried to drag that story any further, I don't think they could have done it without being inconsistent with the events of the last movie. Also, the plot wasn't as convoluted and confusing as the last two times.
The reason Curse of the Black Pearl was so awesome was that it was quite a simple but brilliant plot - with pirates! And I'm glad that On Stranger Tides tried to go back to that kind of story telling. I'm glad they used a new setting and new characters. It was a good choice introducing a love-interest for Jack, because that part of his story was interesting to explore. There also was a sub plot with a clergyman, which a lot of people didn't like, but I thought it was cute, but maybe that was just because he was a really good looking clergyman! :P
Was it as good as Curse of the Black Pearl? No. And I don't think any Pirates movie is going to be as good because none of them can take us through the delight of getting to know Jack Sparrow again, or the experience of watching seeming normal people, the governor's daughter and a blacksmith, going from a cliché forbidden love story into an exciting pirate story.
But as long as they don't end up hopelessly complicating the future sequels, I'm looking forward to them!