Shockingly Brilliant!

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2011)

After the 3rd movie, I was horrified at the thought of having *another* pirate movie! The 3rd one was far too difficult to understand, and I felt it was stretching the series too far. Reluctantly, I viewed the 4th one with the bar set very low.
I've never been so thrilled to be so wrong! I'll cut about six paragraphs of gushing by just listing what I liked and disliked.
Liked:
1. Johnny Dep. Gotta say it, he was brilliant. His chemistry with Penelope Cruz was perfect and was flawless as Jack Sparrow.
2. The simpler plot line. The 2nd and 3rds' plot lines were so complicated it made the movie very difficult for me to understand. I had to watch them about forty times in order to get a vague thought of the general idea of the plot.
3. The fact they cut the old ideas and characters loose for the most part. They still had a few of the old jokes and the classic characters, but they didn't bring up the absence of some of the lesser characters like Orlando and Keira.
4. The fact that the missionary was shirtless for a good portion of the film. To say this film was with out eye candy was very untrue. Yum!
Disliked:
1. The slapstick stunts at times. There were several moments where I expected Jack to slip on a banana peel.
2. The apparent need to involve zombies in the plot. Really? They accomplished no necessary part in their roles. But that's me.
Overall, I feel Pirates 4 was a significant improvement over the last few movies. I'm certainly putting it on my Christmas list!