10 Movies Too Bloated For Their Own Good
2. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Many modern franchises seem to operate under the assumption that there is no such thing as too much mythology. The Pirates of the Caribbean series has been particularly guilty of this, so much so that original trilogy-closing chapter At World's End tries to juggle so many disparate plot threads that it becomes virtually incomprehensible as a result.
Trying to unravel the plot of Gore Verbinski's threequel is enough to cause migraines, simply because there is so much going on that its nearly impossible to follow. There's the East India Trading Company's quest to eradicate piracy, the return of Captain Barbossa, a sojourn to Singapore, the quest to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' locker, the shared history between Jones himself and Tia Dalma/Calypso, Will Turner's attempts to liberate his father from The Flying Dutchman, the Bretheren Court, the Pirate King, not to mention the myriad of double and triple crosses along the way.
By this point, the Pirates franchise had become so dense that it almost ceased to be entertaining anymore. Unbelievably, the fourth and fifth installments didn't even learn from these mistakes and kept piling on the plot points, and its a minor miracle that the entire thing hasn't collapsed on itself. Well, not yet anyway.