Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides

As I was getting ready to go to the theater to see the new Pirates installment Friday I was nervous. I thought to myself, "am I really going to spend money on this? What if it's as bad as the last two?" I mean, remember that ball thing they were rolling around in the jungle in in that one Pirates? Dullsville 2008 (or whenever it came out). But I was committed so I headed to the theater and paid my $12 to see it in 3D.

My movie going buddy, Katherine, and I got there way too early. See, she and I have what you might call "bad movie timing." If we're going to the theater to see the new Harry Potter and it starts at 7:05, we get to the theater at 7:00 and end up not being able to get in. We have done this many times. So for this one, we decided to get there 45 minutes early.

It wasn't necessary.

There was hardly any line and the theater was only about 75% full when the movie started, which helped lower my expectations even more.

Plus, getting there so early, we were forced to watch that stupid movie theater trivia that repeats itself every 4 minutes or so. We always end up chanting quietly, "Stop the madness! Start the movie!" a la Homer Simpson.

But one thing I was looking forward to about this movie was seeing it in 3D. I know I used to be a 3D hater, but in retrospect, I think I was more of a 3D misunderstander. I thought 3D glasses were still those old blue and red paper jobbies, like these:

not my real body

Until seeing the Justin Bieber movie in 3D, I didn't know 3D glasses are more like Weezer glasses these days! And 3D itself has come a long way. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but these days it feels like the movie is coming right at ya, unlike the 3D of ten years ago when I saw Spy Kids 3 in 3D and took my glasses off, prefering to watch a blurred screen. Now I pretty much watch 3D movies exactly like Phil Dunphy when he saw Croctopus.

But I digress. Pirates of the Caribbean! Here's my run down:

Pros:
No Kiera Knightly
No weird monkey (except for like 2 seconds)
Blackbeard looked like a legit pirate
Peg legs
Penelope Cruz
The Spanish King (Keeeey-ute!!)
An exciting quest
Wicked mermaids

Cons:
No Orlando Bloom (though to be honest, I hardly noticed)
3D wasn't mind blowing, but was ok.
No Black Pearl

Overall, I'd give it a 6/10! I'm not seeing dying to see it again, but I didn't feel it was a waste of money. And I was pretty entertained! (Low expectations helped, I'm sure!)

Have any of you seen it? Whatdja think?