On the other hand, some movie sequels do suck yet make over $400 million in the first two weeks after their release. Johnny Depp is back as swishy Captain Jack Sparrow. Kierra Knightley and Orlando Bloom are gone, but Penelope Cruz radiates from the screen in this adventure to find the Fountain of Youth. Yes, it’s all terribly silly. But Disney will continue to milk this franchise for all it is worth. When these Pirate movies are bringing in over a billion dollars each, expect another episode of Captain Jack Sparrow a couple summers from now. If you’re looking for a purely escapist romp, Pirates #4 will provide it. Just don’t expect more than that. GRADE: C+
Enough already! Disney won’t be getting any of my money for this crap, though whoever thought to cast Keith Richards was pretty smart. I find them overlong and tedious.
PIRATES #4 is around 2 hours, Jeff. And the plot was simplified from the bloated mess that was PIRATES #3.
I assume you’re aware that (at least on my computer) the Pirates image you’ve chosen is not showing up “to save bandwidth” and that hot-linking to the site is forbidden. Not that we haven’t seen plenty of visuals from this movie already; I’ve seen so many promos, ads, and articles, I feel as if I’ve seen the movie!
My husband and I were just talking the other day about how incomprehensible it seems that what was a fun little ride at Disneyland (I used to love the fact that, at the start of the ride, you floated by a REAL restaurant with real people paying real money to eat–I’m not sure if it was the same at Disneyworld) has become a billion-dollar franchise. Anyway, this movie is not for me–I grew up watching Keith Richards, I don’t need to see Depp doing his Keith Richards drag act.
Thanks for the heads-up on the graphic, Deb. It looks fine on my computer (in FireFox), but I’ll see if I can find another graphic that’s not so problematic. As I’ve mentioned before, I find graphics on the Internet a Black Art. I don’t get it. Disney is a business. If they can make money on Johnny Depp and pirates, they will.
Funny – the first time it showed the real picture but now I’m getting Deb’s “save bandwith” thing too.
We watched an hour or so of the first one but I got bored. Life’s too short.
PIRATES #1 is the best of the series, Jeff. You’re not missing much by skipping the rest.
I have two professor friends who defend these movies, claiming they give us a snapshot of imperial England or something like that. I say they like junk and can’t admit it.
“Junk” is a good word to describe the PIRATES series, Patti. But, like junk food, the American public seems to have a limitless appetite for it. After this weekend, PIRATES #4 will have taken in over $500 million worldwide.
George, please tell me that the wonderful novel ON STRANGER TIDES by Tim Powers has nothing to do with this abortion.
Rest assured, Drongo, that Tim Powers ON STRANGER TIDES has nothing to do with this money-maker movie (other than providing the sub-title). Too bad no one has made a film based on Powers’ wonderful novel.
I slink in late… the graphic looks fine with Safari on my iMac. The film, well, I haven’t seen the previous one yet and I watch these things in order, but I have enough books to read that I think I can skip this one.
PIRATES #4 breaks no new ground, Rick. It pretty much follows the formula of the previous three installments.