We have yet another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to add to the books. Dead Men Tell No Tales is the 5th installment in the franchise. It’s pretty amazing to think that a ride at Disneyland has inspired such a lucrative movie series. However, it seems that with each subsequent entry, people are getting less and less interested. That’s the same case for me. I didn’t even see the 4th movie but heard enough good things about this one that made me want to see it.

     In terms of the previous Pirates of the Caribbean films, I liked a lot about them. Curse of the Black Pearl(the 1st one) was great and started the series off strong. I really liked the 2nd one too. Davey Jones was an awesome character and I liked what they did with the story about the Flying Dutchman and Davey Jones locker. Moving on to the 3rd film, I love the opening in Singapore. I also appreciated how connected it was to the 2nd movie. It picks up right where the story previously left off. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie made absolutely no sense to me. It confused me and I had no idea what was going on.

     Dead Men Tell No Tales has something going for it that gives it an advantage right off the bat. It’s set in the Pirates of the Caribbean world. Like or hate the more recent movies, I think most people will agree that the world Disney created with this franchise is always fun to watch. Even if Johnny Depp, as Jack Sparrow, feels over the top a lot of the times, he also always has some good scenes and memorable lines. Watching a Pirates of the Caribbean also means you get to listen to some amazing music. Hans Zimmer’s score has reached that level of one of the most memorable themes in movie history. Even if the story sucks, the music gets you excited. The movies also usually have some good jokes and comedic moments. Dead Men Tell No Tales definitely delivers in that sense as well.

     For me, that’s kind of where the positives end. I hate to say it, but the only thing I liked about the film was all things any Pirates of the Caribbean will have(the setting, music, etc.). I loved Jack Sparrow in the first few movies. In this one, Johnny Depp is way too into the character. He slurs his words so much that I could barely understand him and his acting felt very cartoonish. Orlando Bloom isn’t in the movie for too much but I felt that his performance was also very weak. Those things definitely detract from the film but there is one main weakness that really hurt this movie…the story/script. I understand that these movies are supposed to be fantastical. If I’m remembering right, Curse of the Black Pearl has them turning into skeletons with the powers of a gold medallion. However, with any of these big-budget movies, the key to telling such a fantastical story is getting the audience to suspend their idea of disbelief by making it feel somewhat grounded. Think about The Dark Knight. Most of that stuff would never happen but you are willing to watch the story progress because of how it’s told and constructed. Dead Men Tell No Tales chooses to tell this big, unbelievable story without any regard for that. There’s certain moments that completely took me out of the movie. The run time is also an issue. It’s about 130 minutes and you can really feel it. 

     There’s one flashback scene in this film (they show it in the trailers) with Johnny Depp as a young Jack Sparrow. It’s a great sequence and it got me thinking that they really should have done a prequel instead of another sequel. I think they should just leave the franchise alone but if they wanted to make another one, I kind of wish they had done a prequel. I think it could be really interesting and Johnny Depp wouldn’t be in all that make-up and stuff and would have to scale down his mannerisms for the character. They could also do one of these movies with a smaller budget. I love this world and I think a smaller-scale, more grounded story could be awesome.

     Unfortunately, that’s not what we got. I will say, the people I saw it with liked it, so there’s definitely an audience for it. It didn’t do it for me. Dead Men Tell No Tales gets a 4/10.