Summary

• The first five Pirates of the Caribbean films lost their grandeur, but a reboot can restore the franchise's vast ocean setting to its former glory.
• Focusing too much on Captain Jack Sparrow led the franchise to repetitive plots and made the world feel surprisingly small.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 6 can revitalize the series by introducing unfamiliar characters and bringing back a sense of intrigue and mystery.

Pirates of the Caribbean 6 will be a reboot of the franchise, with the film currently in the early stages of development. This decision feels like the right one because it could see the Pirates of the Caribbean series return to its roots in one fundamental way.

The original Pirates of the Caribbean series consisted of five films released between 2004 and 2017. The movies starred Johnny Depp as the incompetent pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, and all proved to be financial successes. However, with each ing film, more and more characters were introduced, and the plots began to feel increasingly convoluted. As a result, critical reaction progressively got worse. However, a reboot could allow the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to make a return to form, especially if they embrace an aspect not seen since the first movie.

The First Five Pirates Of The Caribbean Movies Increasingly Made The Ocean Feel Small

The POTC's Ocean Setting Was Less Impactful As The Franchise Went On

The Pirates of the Caribbean films were, in essence, adventure films with a flavor of fantasy. They evoked the tone and style of the best swashbuckler movies from days gone by yet were infused with a distinctly '00s sense of humor. However, for all their seafaring hijinks and uses of well-known pirate imagery, the films increasingly lacked a distinct sense of scope. In fact, not since the first installment, 2004's The Curse of the Black Pearl, had the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise elicited a feeling of grandeur. This is because the later Pirates films made the ocean feel unusually small.

Ultimately, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise's obsession with the character of Captain Jack ended up causing damage. Of course, Jack Sparrow had been the main character, but the films could only introduce so many people from his past before things started to get silly. Every main villain in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was revealed to be an old enemy of Jack's. Be it Barbossa, Davy Jones, Blackbeard, or Salazar, each one of them had encountered Jack prior to the events of the first film. The repetition of this trope not only got boring, but it reduced the scope of the tale.

The Curse of the Black Pearl had both a sense of mystery and possibility surrounding the vast ocean setting.

Not only did everyone know Jack, but everyone else seemingly knew each other throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. The ocean of the first film felt like a large and daunting place where anyone could easily go missing. Furthermore, The Curse of the Black Pearl had both a sense of mystery and possibility surrounding the vast ocean setting. The fact that everyone in the world of Pirates of the Caribbean was familiar with one another and seemed to never be more than a stone's throw away from the central conflict made the franchise setting feel like a small place.

A Reboot Of Pirates Of The Caribbean Could Lead To A Greater Scope

Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 Can Restore The Ocean Setting's Impact

To return a greater sense of scope to the Pirates franchise, a reboot is definitely the right move. Pirates of the Caribbean 6 needs to move on from Jack Sparrow, and a fresh start with new characters is exactly the way to do this. If Pirates of the Caribbean 6 takes inspiration from the first movie by introducing characters unfamiliar with each other and by instilling a new sense of mystery, it could lead to the series regaining the immense scope it once had. This could help to rejuvenate the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and restore interest in the brand.

The first five Pirates of the Caribbean films are currently available to stream on Disney+.

Arguably, the loss of scope seen in the first five Pirates of the Caribbean films was a symptom of a wider problem in Hollywood. Thanks in part to the MCU's popularity, there was a period during the 2010s where every studio had a shared universe that saw many characters from multiple films crossing paths with one another. Like with the Pirates films, this had the effect of making the fictional worlds in which the characters lived seem smaller, thereby reducing the scope. Disney will wisely avoid going down this route by using Pirates of the Caribbean 6 to propel the franchise in a new direction.