Movie Review: POTC4 - On Stranger Tides

[hrj]

Very briefly: Having an actual independent story behind movie #4 made all the difference between a tired franchise being squeezed for yet another drop or two of blood and an entertaining summer flick that I might even buy the DVD of. Plus, I was pleased that Tim Powers' novel was credited with "inspired by" rather than "based on". Quite likely I was able to enjoy the movie better for having not yet read OST the novel -- the strongly idiosyncratic recurring characters would probably have caused some tooth-grinding if I were running them against the original in my head. But I just might add it to the to-read shelf now, if only to do a compare-and-contrast.

Judgment: if (like me) you swore after POTC3 that you'd never waste your time and money on the franchise ever again, be willing to consider a mental erase-and-reboot back to POTC2 and give this one a chance.