You may think you know the score with the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series so far; dark lighting, sandy beaches, witty reparte, monkeys, and alcoholism. But ON STRANGER TIDES is proving to be something totally different, as is evidenced in the newest trailer, which features all of the stuff I listed above and also mermaids. That's right, there are mermaids in this movie. Talk about a way to shake up the entire stale ascetic of an overstretched film franchise!

Check out the mermaids after the jump.

Okay, so let me get this straight. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES follows Jack Sparrow, who is a wanted man because he possesses a map that everyone wants. There is a female love interest who is super feisty and ethnic. Jack Sparrow also wants his boat back because someone else has it, and he decides to visit his celebrity dad along the way to recover it. A legendary bad-guy pirate stands in way of Jack Sparrow's goal. And then...there are mermaids. I was almost positive I'd seen this film before, but then mermaids were introduced and I totally forgot how repetitive this story seems. Thank God for Mermaids!

I am also pretty sure I saw a boat shoot fire from its "boat-front" (I'm bad at boat lingo). Mermaid and fire-boat seem to be enough to give this trailer and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN a pass for this round. We'll see for sure when the movie is released on May 20th.

Source Yahoo Movies, via The Playlist