Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl Special Edition DVD Review

As we've already seen that the picture
and sound quality hasn't disappointed,
let's get going on the extra features.
As with so many blockbuster movies,
Pirates of the Caribbean arrives as a
two-disc set laden with all kinds of
goodies. Kicking off with Disc One, the
first thing you'll notice is that given the
film's running time, Buena Vista has
wisely kept most of the extras to the
second disc, with the exception of the
audio commentaries. The film offers
two feature-length commentaries, the
first by Gore Verbinski and Johnny
Depp, the second by writers Stuart
Beattie, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and
Jay Wolpert - and both are simply
fantastic to listen to. While the writers
provide plenty of fascinating info on
the making of the movie, it's the
chance to hear Verbinski and Depp
riffing about all kinds of things related
and completely unrelated to the movie
that most people will go for. Also
included on the first disc are two
scene-specific commentaries. In the
first, Jerry Bruckheimer discusses
various aspects of the production
including casting decisions and CGI work, while the second features Keira
Knightley dominating a track that also
features occasional input by Jack
Davenport - boy, can that girl talk!
Disc Two houses a selection of
interesting featurettes including a
better than usual piece on the making
of the movie. Also offered is an
interactive Below Deck feature that
allows you to explore the history of
pirates, a look at the film's CGI work
with the Moonlight Scene Progression
feature, a selection of deleted scenes,
a blooper reel and more. It's also
worth pointing out the generous
selection of DVD-ROM material on
offer, which includes script-to-screen
and storyboard-to-screen features, a
history of the original theme park ride,
arts galleries, an interactive effects
studio and weblinks. It looks like
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse
of The Black Pearl comes up trumps
in every single department!
Packed with lovely booty and with a transfer
as luxurious as the finest buried treasure,
this is a DVD to die for.

The disc's anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer
is very impressive. While it does show
some signs of grain and minor moiré
effects, the image holds up well with
saturated colours, deep blacks full of
fine shadow detail and a sharpness
that lends the image a rich texture.

Arriving in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and
DTS flavours, the audio mix offers
pretty much everything you have
come to expect from a modern action
extravaganza. The front of both mixes
offers solid frequency response, bass
and dynamic movement, while the
rears do a fantastic job with the music
score, offering ambient noise, and
adding even more localised audio
placement in a vivid, lifelike manner.