Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

[W]ith this fourth installment, sadly, while at times the film soars with reckless swashbuckling abandon, some of the wind appears to be out of its sails.

[T]his is again essentially the same film told differently. Luckily, it's still just about entertaining enough to hold appeal thanks, largely, to [Johnny] Depp's performance.

It's too bad they couldn't do more to make an almost completely new cast a bit more compelling.

Director Rob Marshall has a striking visual eye, and the film certainly looks great, it's just kind of a mess - a shamelessly entertaining mess, but a mess just the same.

Sparrow is such a beloved character that giving him more screen time might at first seem like a good thing, but that isn't the case. Instead, his shtick gets repetitive rather quickly.