Just came back from it, and I liked it better than I thought. The critics were way too harsh on this.
Now it's certainly not a breath of fresh air, true, but what I liked was how toned down it was. AWE was pretty much as big as they get, so I'm glad they went the opposite and didn't need to get bigger. it was on scale with the first film, which is great.
And it's better than the second and third. Jack is Jack again! Thank God!
I agree that the action could have been better, and the sword fight between Jack and Jack II at the beginning was drawn out.
The mermaid scene was great. Pretty tense.
I didn't hate the Philip/Mermaid stuff as much as I thought. Were they needed? No, but it wasn't awful. I kind of liked them both. They weren't the most interesting people, but they did what they could with it.
I just kept thinking how good it felt that this wasn't tied to the others. No Will or Elizabeth or other parts. The plot was straightforward and not bloated.
A good time all around. I enjoyed the humor too. And I like how they dialed down the humor.
Depp as Sparrow was great and I'm glad to see him back to how he was in the first one and not a self parody. I think this works. They somehow made it work where him being the main character doesn't feel like too much. I liked the balanced out stuff with Gibbs and Barbossa while simultaneously showing Jack's stuff. Then Jack went off by himself and came across Barbosaa and his crew, and I pretty much liked that. Very nice and simple.
Rush as Barbossa is used very well. Loved his character and his outcome.
McShane, while badass, I felt wasn't really used to his full potential. He could have done more evil things.
Cruz was sexy as hell. I liked her. I do think there should be a new love interest in the next one though.
All around, a good time. It doesn't bring much new, but I'm glad they brought it back down and kept why this series is good in the first place.
At first I was dissappointed that she didn't end up dying, but her outcome was so much better. 
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