Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. The film opened in theaters May 20, 2011. The title was announced at the D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center on September 11, 2009.

Plot
Off the coast of Spain, two fishermen find a man in their nets who claims to be a member of the crew of Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish Conquistador who was supposed to have died two hundred years previously while on an expedition in search for the Fountain of Youth. The man is brought to Cádiz before King Ferdinand and before dying gives the king Ponce de León's logbook. Ferdinand orders his most trusted man, known only as The Spaniard, to find the Fountain.

Meanwhile in London, Joshamee Gibbs, being mistaken for Jack Sparrow, is being put on trial in the Old Bailey courthouse for piracy. A mysterious Judge Smith condemns Gibbs to life in prison, rather than a hanging, much to the surprise of the crowd, and allows Gibbs to be transferred to jail under minimum security. The Judge is revealed to be Jack Sparrow, who has come to save his former First Mate, and bribed the carriage driver to transport them to shore. Gibbs informs Jack about the rumors of him recruiting a crew, which Jack renounces as completely false, and quite insulting. But he also decides to find the imposter, because he needed a ship to escape from England.

But instead to the shore, their carriage leads them to the Royal Palace, where they are arrested by the British Royal Guards, who have also bribed the driver. Jack is brought before King George Augustus, who asks him to guide a British expedition to find the Fountain of Youth. Jack is then introduced to the leader of the expedition; Hector Barbossa, now a privateer in the King's service and missing a leg. Barbossa reveals to Jack that the Black Pearl was lost in battle, which also cost him his leg. Jack angrily reacts at hearing the loss of his beloved Pearl, which leads to him causing enough disruption and havoc to make one of his legendary escapes. He robs a noblewoman in the process, and was saved from a King's soldier by his father, Captain Teague. At the Captain's Daughter pub, Teague informs Jack about the items he'll need for the ritual needed to perform at the Fountain.

Jack then confronts the impostor, who engages him in a stalemate duel in the storeroom of the Captain's Daughter. After a while of fighting, the impostor is turns out to be Angelica, his former love interest. Angelica reveals to Jack that she needs him to guide her to the Fountain. Suddenly, the King's soldiers arrive, and after a fierce fight Jack and Angelica escape by jumping to the river Thames. Angelica's assistant drugs Jack with a dart and he is then taken aboard a ship.

Five days later, Jack wakes up and discovers that he's on the Queen Anne's Revenge, a ship of the infamous pirate Blackbeard. He also discovers that Blackbeard is Angelica's father and that his quest for the Fountain is an attempt to break a prophecy, foreseen by the quartermaster, that reveals his death at the hands of a one legged man. The same night, Jack raises a full-scale mutiny aboard the Revenge, which was successful until foiled by Blackbeard who uses his sword to hang the crewmen with the ship's rigging. Later, in Blackbeard's cabin, Blackbeard reveals that he must reach the Fountain of Youth before the prophecy of his death, told by the Quartermaster, comes true. Blackbeard's manipulation over a voodoo doll of Jack forced Jack to reconsider leading him to the Fountain. Later, Angelica reveals to Jack that the Black Pearl was captured by Blackbeard, who shrunk it and put it in a bottle, and placed in a cabinet full of a dozen other ships. Much to Jack's chagrin, Jack the monkey has also been shrunk into the bottle.

Back in England, Barbossa forces Joshamee Gibbs to join his crew on the HMS Providence, after Gibbs burns the Mao Kun map to avoid hanging. Now Gibbs is the only one besides Jack who knew the way to the Fountain. During the journey, Barbossa faces a great deal of skepticism from his officers, yet manages to placate them all. The Providence encounters the Spanish fleet, commanded by the Spaniard. Though Barbossa prepares him men for the battle, the Spanish ships just pass them by without opening fire. Barbossa is alarmed by this, as it is clear the Fountain is the prize and they aren't even worth the time to sink. He then orders full sails ahead to Whitecap Bay.

One of the items needed for the ritual was the mermaid's tear, so Blackbeard leads the Queen Anne's Revenge to Whitecap Bay, a mermaid nesting place. During the hunt, the crew suffers heavy casualties, but they manage to capture a young mermaid, Syrena, thanks to Philip, a young missionary who despises Blackbeard. Later, the Providence arrives at the same place. Barbossa and the part of the crew go ashore, but angry mermaids attack and sink the Providence, killing the rest of the crew in the process, leaving Barbossa, Gibbs, Gillette, Groves, and a handful of officers left.

Blackbeard and his men search for the Fountain through the jungle-infested island, guided by Jack's compass, and carrying Syrena in a glass tank. When they arrive to the river and the broken bridge, Blackbeard sends Jack to find the Santiago, Ponce de León's ship, and the mythical silver Chalices which he needed for the ritual. The rest of the crew continues the journey to the Fountain. When Blackbeard obtains Syrena's tear by heavily wounding Philip, he leaves her tied up at the pools to slowly die. Jack finds the Santiago, and Barbossa inside. They discover that the chalices were taken by the Spanish. They decide to join forces. Under the cover of the night, Jack and Barbossa steal the chalices from the Spanish, and though they were captured for a brief time, they manage to escape. Jack rejoins Blackbeard's men, while Barbossa sets an ambush for them at the Fountain.

Blackbeard's men arrive at the Fountain, where a huge battle begins between them and Barbossa's crew. Suddenly, the Spanish arrive too, and the Spaniard claims the Fountain a heathen place and orders it destroyed. Using the moment of distraction, Barbossa stabs Blackbeard with his poisoned sword. Angelica tries to help her father, and accidentally cuts her hand on the poisoned blade. The Spanish start to destroy the temple around the Fountain, because they saw the Fountain as the abomination of the God's laws. Barbossa takes Blackbeard's sword as his own, and Blackbeard's men join him, and they all leave. While the remaining zombies attempt to stop the Spanish, the Spaniard throws the Chalices in the deep well and departs, but Syrena, who was saved by Philip, brings the Chalices back to Jack. Jack fills the Chalices with the water from the Fountain and pours Syrena's tear into one of them. Blackbeard asks Angelica to sacrifice herself for him, and though she was willing to do that, Jack tricks Blackbeard to drink from the wrong chalice, which saves Angelica and kills Blackbeard, deeply angering her.

Back on the shore, Barbossa takes full command of the Queen Anne's Revenge and sails for Tortuga, with the power of his new sword, turning to piracy once again. Jack then takes a row boat to a island. Angelica tells Jack she is pregnant with his child, but he refuses to listen, and they both declare their love for each other. However, just before they kiss, Jack maroons a very ungrateful Angelica on a deserted island, unable to trust her, and leaves her with a pistol with one shot, which she uses to fire at Jack but misses. Jack rejoins Joshamee Gibbs, who managed to steal the shrunken Pearl in a bottle, along with the other shrunken ships, from Blackbeard's cabin. While they have no idea how to get it back to normal, both the pirates are happy to have the beloved ship back in safe hands.

Later, alone on the island, Angelica finds Jack's voodoo doll as it washed up ashore.