Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (DVD)

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If I had any reservations at all about the film, it's that I possibly have a shorter attention span than most youngsters. At 143 minutes, the movie seemed to go on forever. My patience was wanning and my nerves wearying at the ninety-minute mark, and I still had almost an hour to go! Nevertheless, despite a script that could have been trimmed and a few sections that lag, I enjoyed the movie to the end and would gladly go back and watch it again. Villains, heroes, scalawags, and ghosts, skeletons, daring rescues, audacious escapes, and treasure aplenty. "Pirates" is energetic and engaging, and that's as much as anyone might hope it would be.

Video:
The picture quality strikes me as being a typical Buena Vista live-action product. It's very good but not definitively good, not "Lord of the Rings" live-action good or "Finding Nemo" animated good. The screen size is big enough, measuring an approximate 2.13:1 anamorphic ratio, and it is mastered to THX specifications. But the actual resolution is sometimes a tad soft, and in darker scenes there is a touch of murky grittiness evident. Nevertheless, colors come off well--deep, rich, bright, and faithful; and digital artifacts like moiré effects and edge enhancements are few and far between. Most people will be too preoccupied with their enjoyment of the movie itself to notice much about the video, however, and that's probably the way it should be.

Audio:
If I had even minor reservations about the picture quality, I had practically none about the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (DTS 5.1 is also available). It is very dynamic, with excellent transient response, and a fairly wide frequency range. Perhaps deepest bass is slightly wanting at times and perhaps the surrounds could have been used to better advantage, but, again, the shortcomings are so small they are more than made up for by the audio's merits.

Extras:
"Pirates" did outstanding box office, so a two-disc set is required, if only for prestige value. After all, how else would the public know this was a big film if the set didn't include at least two discs? Disc one contains the usual items: the widescreen presentation of the movie, the Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks, a mere sixteen scene selections, a THX Optimizer set of audiovisual tests, English and French spoken languages, French subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Additionally, the first disc includes three audio commentaries, the first with director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp; the second with stars Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport and an interview with producer Jerry Bruckheimer; and the third with writers Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, and Jay Wolpert.

Disc two, naturally, is where the documentaries and featurettes and such are found, and this one is well stocked for a long voyage in front of the TV set. First, we find a thirty-seven minute documentary, "An Epic at Sea: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean," a look at the actors, locations, production designs, ships, costumes, stunts, the visual effects, and the film's première. It's divided into nine chapters that can be played individually or all at once. Of the lot, I found "Ships" most fascinating, an examination of the three major sailing ships used in the film, their mock-ups, and their miniatures. Second, we have "Fly on the Set," five sections totalling some twenty minutes of behind-the-scenes footage shot during the film's production, chronicling "The Town Attack," "Tortuga," "The Blacksmith Shop," "The Cave," and "Jack's Hanging." Next, we have three personal diaries, including producer Jerry Bruckheimer's photo diary, the "Diary of a Pirate" (actor Lee Arenberg, the pirate "Pintel" in the movie), and the "Diary of a Ship," the "Lady Washington," the actual ship that became the H.M.S. Interceptor in the movie.

After the diaries, we have "Below Deck: An Interactive History of Pirates," the bonus item I enjoyed best, a rather amusing and informational, first-person tour of a pirate ship, pirate history, and various real-life pirates. Following that are a generous nineteen deleted scenes, all with excellent picture quality, and a three-minute blooper reel. Finally, there are image galleries of concept art, storyboards, costumes, production, and publicity; a "Moonlight Serenade" section showing us the progress of a shot from concept to completion; various DVD-ROM features for your computer; and "Pirates in the Parks," a seventeen-minute segment of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" TV show from January, 1968, that takes us on a tour of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction at the Disneyland theme park. The discs come with a twelve-page booklet insert of additional information and navigational aids, a slim-line package, and a distinctively embossed slipcase.

Parting Thoughts:
The film's subtitle, "The Curse of the Black Pearl," should have been our first clue that more of the same would be on the way, and, in fact, a sequel is planned for 2005 with Verbinski again directing and Depp in the lead. It was inevitable, I suppose, considering the popularity of action flicks these days and the success of the first movie. At least with "Pirates of the Caribbean" we know the filmmakers have already notched up one good entry in the series.

One last thing: Despite its Disney origins, "Pirates" is a far cry from "Treasure Island." Fact is, "Pirates" is long, it's violent, and, as I said before, it's rated PG-13. Parents might want to preview it first before allowing younger children to watch it. But for older kids, like me, the film can be a boatload of fun.

As Capt. Barbossa says, "You best start believing in ghost stories.... You're in one."

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