Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho…

My rating system:

5 = Perfection.
4.5 = REALLY good, but lacking that oomph to make it 5.
4 = Great.
3.5 = Above average. Definitely worth a look.
3 = Average.
2.5 = Below average. If you like its genre, you probably would like it.
2 = Not terrible, but not something you would like.
1.5 = Bad, but still worth checking JUST to make fun of how bad it is.
1 = BEWARE! EVIL! NOT EVEN WORTH MAKING FUN OF! WILL LITERALLY MAKE YOU SICK!

Ah, Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney’s mature audience cash cow, having earned its place as one of the highest grossing films ever, continues on with this latest addition. How did it fare?

Captain Jack Sparrow has been wrangled into yet another adventure as he discovers someone has been using his name to gather together a crew. His investigation leads him to an old flame of his, Angelica, whom is on the search for the Fountain of Youth. The journey leads them through obstacles including zombies, others in search for the Fountain such as the legendary pirate Blackbeard and the newly appointed privateer Barbossa, and…mermaids? The search is on! Now where’s my rum?

Rango is an animated feature film starring Johnny Depp as well as a host of other not-so-important stars. Johnny Depp plays Rango, a pet lizard who is launched from his isolated glass cage into the desert. Rango, being a lizard, encounters a slew of other characters as he travels across the desert. Eventually he arrives at Dirt Town where there is a severe shortage of water. It’s funny that water is their money and their bank is filled with water rather than money. Rango enters the town’s saloon and plays himself up to be quite a badass. The movie continues with him trying to find the water supply, and to recover the water that was stolen from a family of thieves. The rest of the movie is quite predictable and straight forward with some nice comedy thrown in.

This is a children’s movie and as such it is quite linear. The protagonist is presented as not the best person, gets thrown into a new situation and deceives others, gets caught in the lie and then sets out to make the lie truth. This culminates in the protagonist going on a journey, becoming a hero and then becoming a better person.

As with all children’s movies the plot is not what matters, it’s the characters. The characters and the acting we’re all quite spectacular and really sucked you into the story. With unique characters ranging from Rango, to Miss Beans, to Rattle Snake Jake, to the mayor; all of the characters made you truly connect with and feel their pain during the drought. The characters borrow from classic western films such as The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and the Three Amigos.