The previous sequel, "At World's End," was overlong and unnecessarily complex. This installment in the Pirates series does the exact opposite. It is more than a half hour shorter than the previous film, and a lot simpler. This movie is essentially a race to the fountain of youth. It is story heavy with one action scene leading into another, but plot wise it is pretty thin. The motivation behind the story is to get to the fountain and use it essentially. So, where "At World's End" was so plot heavy, this movie is its opposite. Just like all of the Pirates movies, this installment has its moments of excitement and adventure for sure, but it is feeling more and more stale each go around. The action is good at moments, and other times is not so memorable. the effects are great once again. There is not as much CGI in this movie as there was in the previous two, so that is kind of nice and refreshing, but there still quite a bit of CGI obviously. I do like Ian McShane as Blackbeard, I think he does a fine job. This movie is more of a standalone whereas the previous two need each other ("Black Pearl" can standalone just fine). There is a romance thread in this film, two to be exact, a confusing one between Johnny Depp's, Jack Sparrow, and Penelope Cruz's Angelica, where we learn they have a history, but it's not a relationship we want to cheer for really. The other is between a missionary and mermaid, it may sound interesting, but it's not. This movie really reminds us how much the romance arc between Will and Elizabeth added to the previous movies. I was not a huge fan of Cruz's character in this movie, not because of her acting but more so because I didn't find her character all that interesting, which is a shame and a wasted opportunity. Honestly, you could watch the first three movies and be happy with how that ends and not worry about this or the next installment. However, if you do crave some more pirate action (which there is plenty of in this movie, for better or worse). Johnny Depp tries his best to carry this movie, and I find his performance to be a lot of fun here, he just isn't done many favors from anything else in the film. Geoffrey Rush does good with what he was given. The chemistry between Rush and Depp is great and I like it whenever those two share the screen together in this franchise. Overall, I give this movie a 5.5/10.