Mermaids, Zombies, The Fountain of Youth all rolled into one great movie

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2017)

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the fourth installment in the Pirates franchise and one of the most interesting. Based on Tim Powers novel "On Stranger Tides" this fourth movie of Pirates brings some adventure and weirdness to the series.
Many years after the events of "At Worlds End" I am told this story happens 13 years after At Worlds end and Five before Dead Men Tell No Tales in the time line of the series. Captain Jack Sparrow is looking for the Fountain of Youth, his search takes him to London England where he meets Captain Barbossa who is now a Privateer in the Kings Navy (We assume that) and a lover from his past, Angelica. Angelica convinces Jack to help her look for the Fountain of Youth, albeit some poison dart convincing. Jack is suddenly brought into the search on board captain Blackbeard's ship The Queen Anne's Revenge. There Jack discovers Angelica is Blackbeard's lost daughter (or is she?) and his crew is made up of Zombies.
I feel this pirates is more of an exploration movie then a straight out pirates film, I feel it's like an Indiana Jones movie combined with Pirates of the Caribbean. The Scenery which was mostly filmed on the Hawaiian Islands is beautiful. All of the Pirates movies have some sort of supernatural theme to them, this one in my view has the most supernatural element of them all. It follows Tim Powers book pretty well, but not so well it's a cinematic copy. What I like about this pirates is they bring the fabled Fountain of Youth into the story, along with voodooism, Zombies, and I really liked the Mermaids in this, the film portrays them as what legend truly makes them out to be, monsters that eat unsuspecting sailors. I like how it's also sort of a race between three groups Blackbeard's crew and Jack, Barbossa's English Navy Crew, and The Spanish Crew.
This story focuses more on Jack, don't get me wrong I love Will and Elizabeth and I loved how they brought them back in the fifth installment. But it's cool how they made a story based just on Jack, he is after all the main character of the series. I also liked how they brought a former woman from his past into the picture, that being said, I wish they would have explained more about Jack's and Angelica's past together, why he left her? And why she bears him a hateful grudge? It does explain some of that here but not so much to make it more interesting.
Blackbeard, he is an alright villain, he ranks number 4 on my pirates villain's list above Lord Beckett who is the worst on my list and after Barbossa in the first film. What I got out of Blackbeard was his ruthlessness and wickedness and he possesses a magical sword that can control his ship, which is cool. Other then that he seems to plain to me, and I don't see why Angelica wanted him as a father, maybe to do her dirty work? I really liked his Zombie crew though.
Jack, Barbossa, and Gibbs are the only returning characters from the three previous films, all the rest are new.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a fun adventurous film, it isn't my favorite of the pirates films but I do like it and enjoy it. Watching it you get this feeling of exploration and discovery just like an Indiana Jones movie.
10/10 for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. "There be mermaids upon us within the hour mark my words"