THE MOVIE

Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow in On Stranger Tides.

When the original trilogy of a franchise generates $US2.68 billion in worldwide box office it's not surprising to see the film studio trying to milk the franchise for a few more dollars. This fourth film focuses on fan favourite Captain Jack Sparrow, but gone are director Gore Verbinski and stars Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly. So what story did Disney dream up for this fourth film?

When Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), he's not sure if it's love, or if she's a ruthless con artist using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. Forced aboard the ship of the most feared pirate ever, Jack doesn't know who to fear more -Blackbeard (Ian McShane) or the woman from his past.

Needless to say I was very keen to check this film out having missed it at cinemas however the opening scenes and escape with Captain Jack Sparrow through the city streets just seems... well... off. There's something missing. A spark, some wit, some spontaneonaity. The swordfight with the "other" Jack Sparrow at the beginning also lacks something - perhaps it's partially as we guess who was actually the "other" Jack Sparrow.

New to the series is Penélope Cruz as Angelica.

Fortunately after the mermaids appear around half way through, this film picks up pace and the sluggish opening is almost forgiven. Indeed Australia's own Gemma Ward is gorgeous as the first mermaid to appear and hopefully this continues to push her acting career along (check out Black Balloon if you want to see her in a leading role).

Needless to say the acting in this film is pretty solid, with Johnny Depp yet again putting in a performance so brilliant it shines. Having said that, if anything, this fourth movie in the series loses out because there is so much Jack Sparrow. Too much of a good thing as they say. In the past he came in and out of various scenes in the film and stole the show. Here he's asked to headline the whole thing and the "surprise" of his antics are diminished.

Supporting cast including Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane and other supporting roles are well cast, and fans of the franchise will be happy with the returning characters. What disappointed were the lack of memorable bit parts - remember the two English guards on the dock arguing that lets Jack sneak past, or how about the two pirate friends, one with the glass eye. Memorable characters that had small, insignificant, roles but which generated interest.

Captain Jack wading through the waters.

The storyline itself, about the search for the Fountain of Youth, is present but never really becomes totally engrossing or engaging. We know the characters are all racing to find the mermaids to unlock the secrets, and to reach the fountain, but ultimately the overall story takes a back seat. It certainly doesn't have a lot of links to previous movies - not even any obvious in-jokes or moments - and the East India Trading Company now seemingly is non-existent.

I'm a big fan of this franchise but admittedly I struggled with the first hour of this film. It certainly picks up in the second half and by the end I could say I enjoyed the result. Still it's almost a case of too much Jack Sparrow, and a lack of secondary, or tertiary, characters. Still fans of the franchise will want to check this out - just don't expect something on par with the original trilogy.

VIDEO
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has been released on both 2D and 3D Blu-Rays. Unfortunately we're only reviewing the 2D disc here, and while there are scenes where it's clear the 3D effect would have an additional "wow" factor this 2D presentation is nothing to sneeze at with a gorgeous AVC MPEG-4 transfer at the film’s original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The bitrate varies widely from scene to scene often topping out well above 30Mbps according to our PS3.

Ian McShane is solid as Blackbeard.

Strangely there was the odd occasion where black crush was evident, as well as some blacks not quite coming across as dark as expected. Still this is an impressive release with extremely minor niggles.

AUDIO
No problems with the audio at all with Walt Disney lavishing this disc with a phenomenal DTA-HD Master Audio 7.1 (24- bit/48Khz) track. Hans Zimmer has composed the score for this film and it has some delightful, memorable moments which come to life with this lossless track. The surround sound channels are given a thorough workout, the sub-woofer will kick in frequently and the sound priortization is spot on with the only extremely small niggle being the occasionally slurred speech by Jack Sparrow. That's deliberate though and all-in-all this is about as perfect a soundtrack you could ever expect (hence the perfect score!).

Other audio tracks on this Blu-Ray include an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 (both at 320kbps), and French and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks (both 16=bit/48Khz). We sampled the English tracks and it's clearly nowhere in the same realms as the English lossless track, but will get you by if need be.

Australia's Gemma Ward as a mermaid.

Subtitles are provided in English, English for the Hearing Impaired, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and Icelandic. Sampling the English subtitles at various points in the film demonstrated accuracy to on- screen dialogue.

EXTRAS
For such a major release and phenomenal box office success with over $US1 billion in box-office takings it is bitterly disappointing to see this disc so bare of extras.

Sneak Peeks (1:31/HD): Actually there's only one trailer here which is played prior to reaching the main menu, but fortunately skippable if you desire. The trailer is for Cars 2 and is presented in HD with 5.1 surround sound.

Johnny Depp and Geoffry Rush as Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa.

Bloopers of the Caribbean (3:29/HD): As the title suggests this is the blooper reel for the film. Mildly entertaining for a couple of minutes.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (2:06/HD): Split up into segments "Captain Jack's Brick Tales: First Impressions" and "Captain Jack's Brick Tales: To Catch a Mermaid" this is pretty much a promotional video for the video games and LEGO blocks.

Audio Commentary: Finally we get to the only real extra of substance on the disc which is an audio commentary with director Rob Marshall and Executive Producer John Deluca. While the talk is fairly constant, it's a little dry and it would have been great for a few more participants - perhaps some actors or Jerry Bruckheimer as producer.

Of course the movie has pirate ships!

Discover Blu-Ray 3D with Timon & Pumbaa (4:23/HD): A Promotional video talking about the new 3D technology on TV and Blu-Ray players, and of course Disney 3D Blu-Rays.

OVERALL
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is probably the weakest in the franchise - it's almost Johnny Depp overload with Captain Jack Sparrow, but ultimately if you like the other films you should enjoy this. A solid transfer is included on this disc, but also a lack of in-depth extras which may mean a double-dip at a later date. Still, this is well worth checking out.

Review By: Dave Warner

THE MOVIE	7/10
THE VIDEO	9/10
THE AUDIO	10/10
THE EXTRAS	3/10
OVERALL	7/10