Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) - Tired franchise looks for Fountain of Youth

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With new stars stepping up alongside franchise cornerstone Johnny Depp, a traditionally adventure-promising poster for Rob Marshall's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Captain Jack Sparrow appears in London, where he helps his first mate Gibbs escape and start on a new adventure, - this time to find the Fountain of Youth!

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (The Lone Ranger (2013), both)), loosely based on the novel On Stranger Tides (1987) by Tim Powers (Powers of Two (2004)), and directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago (2002)). It is the 4th film in the Pirates franchise (2003; 2006; 2007).

Johnny Depp's (Transcendance (2014)) Sparrow act is getting a bit old, and although there is still some fun left in the character, in the film's best lines, On Stranger Tides doesn't add anything considerable new, which makes it feel as if it runs down-hill in neutral gear, figuratively speaking.

Penélope Cruz (Sahara (2005)) is sexy but confused in a story without any semblance of reality to it, while Geoffrey Rush (The Best Offer (2013)) again succeeds in blowing worthwhile life into his character, Captain Barbossa. When the musical theme plays, one might almost forgive that there is no really good story at play here, and sure in glimpses the handsome animation (costly VFX take over large parts of the film) and great hair- and makeup jobs can be appreciated, - but none of these elements can save this heavily loaded and simultaneously light-as-a-fly sequel. Another problem is that the post-climactic scenes feel endless. 

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a failed attempt at resurrecting the series after the dreadful third film, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).

 

Related posts:

 

Pirates franchise: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Disney's tentpole franchise implodes

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - Wild ruckus in Verbinski's entertaining first Pirates sequel 

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle

Rob Marshall: Nine (2009) - Stars and robes save Marshall's Italian fantasy

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 378.5 mil. $

Box office: 1,046.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.76 times its cost)

[Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides premiered 7 May (Disneyland Anaheim, California) and runs 137 minutes. Depp was paid 55.5 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from June - November 2010 in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and in London, England. Despite aims at lowering the film's cost from the previous two back-to-back shot films' budgets, 3D-camera shot On Stranger Tides' budget ballooned to the point where it became the costliest film ever made at the time. The cost fell from 410.6 mil. $ due to a 32.1 mil. $ tax rebate in England. The film opened #1 to a 90.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4-#5), grossing 241 mil. $ (23 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 108.8 mil. $ (10.4 %) and China with 70 mil. $ (6.7 %). It was the 3rd highest-grossing film of the year, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It additionally made in excess of 102 mil. $ on the North-American home video market. The franchise returned with Depp and Rush in the 5th film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), the last Pirates film to date. Marshall returned with Into the Woods (2014). Depp returned in The Rum Diary (2011); Rush in Green Lantern (2011); Cruz in To Rome with Love (2012); and Ian McShane (Hellboy (2019)) in Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is rotten at 33 % with a 5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides? 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - Wild ruckus in Verbinski's entertaining first Pirates sequel

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+ Best Action Adventure of the Year + Best Pirate Movie of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year 201.44 mil. $ range

 

Exciting, fantastical scenarios and big, attractive stars lure from this poster for Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Beautiful newly wed couple Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann are demanded executed, and Captain Jack Sparrow contracts a terrible curse that results in a raging Kraken!

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (The Lone Ranger (2013), both) and directed by great Tennessean filmmaker Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt (1997)). It is the 2nd film in Verbinski's Pirates trilogy, coming after Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and before Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).

The plot is almost impossible to recount, and the film is a bit messy with a hackneyed monster ending and a long middle sequence in which Orlando Bloom's (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)) Turner appears as yellow as bile. Despite the questionable color-grading job and excessive use of CGI, Dead Man's Chest is still a role-model study in franchise handling - and it's maddeningly entertaining. It has wacky, wonderful humor and a grand Hans Zimmer (The Son (2022)) score.

 

Related posts:

 

Pirates franchise: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Disney's tentpole franchise implodes

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle
Gore Verbinski: Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Disney's tentpole franchise implodes 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 225 mil. $

Box office: 1,066.1 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.73 times its cost)

[Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest premiered 24 June (California) and runs 150 minutes. Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)) was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance; Bloom 11.9 mil. $. Shooting took place from February - September 2005 in St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Bahamas, Dominica and in California, back-to-back with the third Pirates film, At World's End. Depp's stunt double Tony Angelotti was nearly killed in an free-fall stunt accident. He later sued Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer but the suit was dismissed. The film opened #1 to a record-breaking 135.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends at #1 and then another 2 in the top 5 (#2-#3), grossing 423.3 mil. $ (39.7 % of the total gross), selling approximately 64.6 mil. tickets there. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 98.6 mil. $ (9.2 %) and Japan with 84.5 mil. $ (7.9 %). The film was the year's highest-grossing, Disney's highest-grossing up to that point and the fastest to reach 1 bil. $ at the box office (63 days) at the time. It later made in excess of 320.8 mil. $ on the home video market. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning for Best Visual Effects. It lost Best Art Direction to Pan's Labyrinth, Sound Mixing to Dreamgirls and Sound Editing to Letters from Iwo Jima. It won 1/5 BAFTA nominations, was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy, among many other honors. Verbinski returned with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), the next Pirates film and the end to his Pirates trilogy. Depp returned in At World's End; Bloom first in Love and Other Disasters (2006); and Knightley first in At World's End. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is rotten at 53 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest?

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - Disney's tentpole franchise implodes

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Johnny Depp in his Captain Jack getup single-handedly sells tickets on this poster for Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Well-known pirates must band together and find Captain Jack Sparrow in a new quest across dangerous waters towards one final, huge battle.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is written by Ted Elliott (Small Soldiers (1998)) and Terry Rossio (Shrek (2001)) and directed by Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt (1997)). It is the third film in the Pirates franchise started with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with all the first 3 films being by Verbinski.

After two terrific, super-entertaining swashbuckler adventures, the third movie is a fantastically long, empty shell of a film. Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands (1990)) is back and self-satisfied as the at this point nauseating, 'charming' Jack Sparrow character. The plot almost completely went over my pirate's hat for the almost three hour runtime, but it is something about a strange, multi-ethnic, screaming pirate brotherhood. I failed to find the excitement in this, or rather the film failed.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has impressive effects, which wins the film its sole heart here.

 

Related posts:

Pirates franchise:Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle
Gore Verbinski: Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation

Top 10: Best first-of-franchise movies 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 300 mil. $

Box office: 960.9 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.20 times its cost)

[Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End premiered 19 May (California) and runs 169 minutes. It was the most expensive film ever made at the time. Depp was reportedly paid 50 mil. $ + profit participation that reportedly netted him another 40 mil. $, making his total take from the film an incredible 90 mil. $. Orlando Bloom was paid 11.9 mil. $; Keira Knightley 5 mil. $. Star producer Jerry Bruckheimer was paid 5 mil. $ + an unknown profit participation deal. Shooting took place from in August 2005 and from March - December 2006 in Singapore, Utah, New York, Hawaii, the Bahamas and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 114.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for another weekend and then stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#2-#4), grossing 309.4 mil. $ (32.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 91.1 mil. $ (9.5 %) and the UK with 81.4 mil. $ (8.5 %). It was the year's highest-grossing film but only the 3rd highest-grossing in the Pirates franchise. It was the year's 4th highest-grossing in North America, behind Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers. The film was released with 10 minutes censored out in China, where the cut scenes were of Chow Yun-fat's character, apparently thought to be offensive to the Chinese, (the film grossed just 16.9 mil. $ (1.8 %, or not even double the gross in Denmark) according to the official numbers from China.) The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Makeup, lost to La Vie en Rose, and Visual Effects, lost to The Golden Compass. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, among many other honors. The film sold DVDs alone in North America for more than 296 mil. $. The franchise returned with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). Verbinski returned with Rango (2011). Depp returned first in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); Bloom in New York, I Love You (2008); and Knightley in Atonement (2007). Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is rotten at 44 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End?

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle

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+ Best New Franchise of the Year + Best Pirate Movie of the Year

The propped up, attractive stars and a vivid title design and painting, evoking childhood's lively pirate yarns, adorn this effective poster for Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

In the early 1700s, the daughter of a high-ranking British Governor falls in love with a pirate, and they are whirled into an adventure, when his blood becomes the key to unlocking the curse of a pirate ship.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is written by Ted Elliott (Small Soldiers (1998)) and Terry Rossio (Deja Vu (2006)), with Stuart Beattie (The Protector (1997)) and Jay Wolpert (Whew! (1979-80)) contributing story elements, based on the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride at Disney's theme parks, and directed by great Tennessean filmmaker Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt (1997)).
It is a fun swashbuckler throw-back tale that's loaded with peculiar characters, splashy colors and action sequences - and eye-catching CGI walking and fighting skeletons!
Johnny Depp's (Chocolat (2000)) Captain Jack Sparrow is a hit and charmingly original, and Orlando Bloom (Main Street (2010)) is a delicious treat to look at. 
The first Pirates movie is just around 10-15 minutes overlong, especially due to a bit many fighting scenes, - but it is still an excellent and rare blockbuster favorite.

Related post:

Gore Verbinski: Rango (2011) - Verbinski's amusing family western animation

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 140 mil. $
Box office: 654.2 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.67 times its cost)
[Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl premiered 28 June (Disneyland, California) and runs 143 minutes. Early development leaned towards a direct-to-video movie, before Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer boarded the ship. Disney were wary to make another ride-based movie after the flop of ride-based The Country Bears (2002), but were convinced in pre-production that the case was different with Pirates. Overt references to the theme park ride were removed from the script at the request of Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Shooting took place in Los Angeles, California, the Dominican Republic and in St Vincent and the Grenadines, a small Anglo-Caribbean country, from October 2002 - March 2003. The cave set took 5 months to build. 6 days were spent on open ocean shooting the ship battles between the Dauntless and the Black Pearl (both built on barges) and the Interceptor, which was re-dressed full-scale replica sailing ship the Lady Washington. The skeleton effects dictated shooting each of their scenes twice; with and without actors. Depp was paid 10 mil. $ for his performance. Verbinski reportedly spent 18 hour days in editing, which had only 4 months before the film's release. 250 effects shots consisted of removing modern sailboats from shots. The Curse of the Black Pearl banner was added to the title in the hopes that the film would perform well enough to allow a sequel. It became the first Disney movie to get e PG-13 rating. The film opened #1 to a 46.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 7 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#2-#3-#4-X-X-#5-#3-#5), grossing 305.4 mil. $ (46.7 % of the total gross) from a terrific 26-week release. Its success came as a surprise; it sold an estimated 50.64 mil. tickets in the US and marked Depp's entry to super leading man stardom. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 59.8 mil. $ (9.1 %) and the UK with 47.5 mil. $ (7.3 %). It was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year. It was the #1 movie internationally for 7 straight weeks. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this review. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Actor (Depp) to Sean Penn for Mystic River, Sound Editing to Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Sound Mixing to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Makeup also to The Return of the King and Visual Effects also to The Return of the King. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, won 1/5 BAFTA nominations and several other minor honors. It broke a record in North America's home video market by selling 11 mil. copies in its first week in sale; by 2004 it had made an extra 235.5 mil. $ on home video sales alone, which, if added into the equation, would change the film's status to that of a huge hit. The film spun a franchise that has so far born 4 sequels: Verbinski made the first terrific sequel Dead Man's Chest (2006) and the terrible 3rd film, At World's End (2007); Rob Marshall made On Stranger Tides (2011) and Norwegians Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg made Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). Verbinski first returned with The Weather Man (2005). Depp returned in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003); Bloom in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Keira Knightley (Thunderpants (2002)) in Love Actually (2003); and Geoffrey Rush (The Daughter (2015)) in Harvie Krumpet (2003, short) and theatrically in Intolerable Cruelty (2003). Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is certified fresh at 79 % with a 7.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl?