A step down but still some fun for the Pirates franchise

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2017)

Another episode of the pirate adventures takes Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and company to the Fountain of Youth. After the Spanish discover a map to the fountain, Jack is heard to be recruiting in London when in fact he is pretending to be a judge to help free his first mate Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally). He escapes from the British troops and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and seeks out his imposter, discovering that it is Angelica (Penélope Cruz), a former lover. They are all seeking the Fountain of Youth and Jack wakes up in a ship headed that way while Barbossa recruits Joshamee after he burned the map.
Sparrow learns he's aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge captained by Edward Teach aka Blackbeard (Ian McShane) who can zombify his crew and is convinced he is the father of Angelica. Jack teams up with Scrum (Stephen Graham) who helpfully explains what is happening. Imprisoned on the ship is a religious man Philip (Sam Claflin) who refuses to fight. Jack tries to mutiny with the crew but Blackbeard puts an end to that quickly with magical powers controlling his ship. They head to Whitecap Bay to capture a mermaid for her tears. Blackbeard sends out a crew as bait to lure the mermaids who have sharp death and are quite deadly. Only through crafty maneuvers from Sparrow and luck by Philip do they capture a mermaid Syrena (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey).
Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com