Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: May 20, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
21
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondMay 13, 2011
This is the perfect summer movie and perhaps the best Pirates of them all. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 20, 2011
Depp and Cruz only occasionally strike the sparks expected from two of the world's most beautiful people. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 19, 2011
On Stranger Tides feels as fresh and bracingly exhilarating as the day Jack Sparrow first swashed his buckle. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 14, 2011
Marshall delivers old-fashioned swashbuckling action-movie thrills more than computer-engineered grotesquerie. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettMay 12, 2011
Captain Jack Sparrow is back in excellent form for his fourth adventure in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is more serious in the hands of a new director, Rob Marshall, and thanks to Penelope Cruz it's also a good deal sexier. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerMay 12, 2011
Serves as a welcome corrective, reviving the fun, feather-light frivolity that any film based on a Disneyland ride ought to exhibit. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMay 19, 2011
It's a Herculean task to steal the thunder from a Johnny Depp performance, but Richard Griffiths (best known these days as Harry Potter's tubby Muggle uncle, Vernon Dursley) does exactly that. Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMay 17, 2011
The picture is cluttered and convoluted and big, and Marshall - taking over the reins from Gore Verbinski - doesn't seem to grasp how exhausting nonstop action can be. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenMay 20, 2011
Judi Dench is much more of a challenge. Drenched in powder and pomp, the grand old Dame pops up in a London carriage. She's there in a flash and then, as quickly, gone, and her fleeting presence is exactly like the fleeting merit of this fourth galleon in the portly franchise: It prompts stirrings, not quite all the way to feelings. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 20, 2011
Best of all, here there be fun. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMay 19, 2011
Frankly, the wow factor isn't that great. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 19, 2011
Johnny Depp, back again as the swashbuckling miscreant who favors guy-liner and gold, somehow manages to keep this ship of fools afloat. But just barely. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 20, 2011
Even the "surprise" appearance of Keith Richards, as the scurvy father of Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, has already been hyped to death in the advance press. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMay 21, 2011
This installment, which is subtitled "Give Us Your Money, Sheep," really isn't a Pirates of the Caribbean movie at all. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithMay 20, 2011
I suppose you have to give credit to the movie for coming up with some badass killer mermaids. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 19, 2011
Here's how it goes down: 4 is better than 3, about the same as 2 and worse than 1. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 19, 2011
As a movie, On Stranger Tides would have to be considered a failure. The story does not engage, the characters are stick figures, the action sequences are perfunctory, and the whole enterprise reeks of being a money-grab. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellMay 19, 2011
Surprisingly dull. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 19, 2011
To press the point, there is absolutely no need for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonMay 19, 2011
Apart from Cruz, who throws herself lustily into her tough-seductress role, the actors give negligible performances, with McShane, Rush, and Keith Richards in a repeat cameo all playing nigh-identical smug glowerers. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 19, 2011
Marshall deserves props for putting the "show" back into the Pirates business. But face it, he's polishing a giant turd. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsMay 19, 2011
This is eye-catching and forgettable in the patented Bruckheimer manner, which means you should be entertained if you're not expecting anything new. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 19, 2011
The movie is fun until they set sail. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMay 18, 2011
On Stranger Tides isn't nearly strange enough. Its one real act of piracy is stealing away your excitement. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreMay 18, 2011
Repetitious, tedious, and pretty much joyless. Read full review
40
NPRBob MondelloJun 1, 2011
Small kids won't really appreciate Johnny Depp, either, though frankly he's getting to be less fun as the series ages, possibly realizing that what's riskiest in Pirates 4 isn't walking the plank, but jumping the shark. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 19, 2011
It is by far the least strange of all the "Pirates" episodes so far, with none of the cartoonish exuberance or creepy-crawly effects that made its predecessors intermittently delightful. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 19, 2011
Despite Sparrow's ongoing flashes of charm, Depp himself seems to know he's coasting. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 18, 2011
Depp's performance is still one of the few bright spots in the movie. Richards is back, too, in an all-too-brief appearance as Sparrow's father. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 17, 2011
The new movie is simpler plotwise (a race to the Fountain of Youth), while at the same time being somehow more deadening. Read full review
40
Village VoiceNick SchagerMay 17, 2011
As the seductive and conniving Angelica, Cruz is luminous, albeit not enough to compensate for Marshall shrouding virtually every major set piece in nighttime fogginess. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O HaraMay 16, 2011
An overly complicated plot and poorly thought-out characters detract from the flashes of charm that Cap'n Jack still emits. Despite quality set-pieces and the best efforts of the cast, this is dull and crossbones. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 20, 2011
On Stranger Tides has the fishy smell of something washed ashore and sold as new. But this shipwreck isn't worth a wooden doubloon. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 19, 2011
The wastrel Sparrow ends up both overexploited and underpowered in this fourth outing. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 23, 2011
I've never seen a film in which what was actually onscreen seemed so irrelevant. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensMay 19, 2011
For a series so steeped in supernatural mumbo-jumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean displays remarkably little sense of wonder. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 19, 2011
The IMAX print I saw was so murky as to make you give thanks for the few scenes shot in simple sunlight, the 3-D wasn't worth the bother, and never before have I wanted to chloroform an entire orchestra. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 19, 2011
This isn't absurdity. This is nonsense - and it's as boring as nonsense. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 19, 2011
Even the most forgiving moviegoer will recognize this movie as the blatant cash-grab that it is. Read full review
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