Verdict: more than decent flick and lots of fun, as long as you aren’t expecting The Tempest… or, for that matter, Tim Powers’ own On Stranger Tides, which is kind-of, sort-of, not-really, actually-Tim-himself-is-fine-with-the-liberties-taken-because-he’s-getting-some-of-that-money-and-the-most-poetic-phrase-in-English-is-‘Pay-to-the-order-of’ the basis for the movie. The movie shows a certain willingness to admit that, yeah, there was an actual historical time period that this series has been largely abusing, and it had more of the conventional pirate movie tropes than some of the earlier flicks did.
Also, they had proper Spaniards.
I’d say, all in all: catch it in matinee, and go have a beer or two afterward. Or maybe one beforehand; either way, the afternoon will go pleasantly enough.
