Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' big twist involving Carina Barbossa makes little sense - here's why. Pirates Of The Carribean is based on the classic Disney ride, but a feature version spent many years in development hell. Pirate movies had a famously rough time at the box-office, including the high-profile flop of 1996's Cutthroat Island. This made the studio nervous and for a time, they considered a straight-to-video adaptation starring Christopher Walken as Jack Sparrow instead. Even after they'd settled on a blockbuster approach, leading man Johnny Depp's bizarre, Keith Richards inspired turn as Sparrow made them very nervous.
The gamble paid off with Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl becoming a commercial hit that received great reviews, with Depp's turn being praised. Work quickly began on sequels with Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End being shot back-to-back. The sequels were both enormous successes despite very mixed reviews. Depp returned once again for the Rob Marshall helmed Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which added Penélope Cruz to the cast. The fourth entry again received a mostly negative response, though it grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales arrived in 2017 and once again, even broadly negative reviews couldn't stop it becoming a hit. The plot sees Javier Bardem's ghost pirate and his crew coming after Jack for revenge, with the latter seeking help from Will Turner's son Henry (Brenton Thwaites), his old nemesis Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and a mysterious astronomer named Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario, Crawl). It's revealed Carina's mother died during childbirth and she never knew her dad - until Barbossa realizes he is her father.
While it's not uncommon for major franchises to throw in a surprise twist involving family, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' Barbossa reveal makes little sense. The fifth entry is set in 1751 with Carina being born in 1732, but the movie is purposefully vague on certain details. It's never revealed where she born or when exactly lifelong pirate Barbossa settled down on land long enough to father a child. Barbossa reveals he gave her up to an orphanage after her mother passed since he knew he'd be a terrible father. He also left her with a gift in the form of Galileo Galilei's diary, because apparently he's really into astrology and never told anyone.
While Carina herself is a fun character in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, mostly thanks to Kaya Scodelario's performance, her being Barbossa's daughter raises too many questions the movie doesn't bother trying to answer. It seems early versions of the script had her be over 30 and intended as a love interest for Jack before it was decided to make her a love interest for Henry instead. Maybe an older take on Karina would gel better, though it still raises timeline questions. It's also strange she was able to hold onto such a valuable diary during her time in an orphanage. It ultimately feels like a twist for the sake of it and not a very convincing one.