Arriving home from work last Friday, boy was I surprised. What was that sitting on my front porch waiting for me from the great people at Buena Vista? It was nothing more than both Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
We all know the synopsis, but here is the cliff note version again:
Aboard the Black Pearl, infamous pirate Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) attacks the city of Port Royal and kidnaps a governor’s daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). Barbossa then sets sail with his hostage toward a secret hideaway, hoping to lift an ancient curse by sacrificing her and returning a once-plundered treasure. Elizabeth’s childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) meets an eccentric seaman, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who reveals that the Black Pearl was formerly his ship, until Barbossa committed mutiny. Together, they assemble a ragtag crew and commandeer a British vessel, hoping to chase down and free both Elizabeth and Sparrow’s Pearl. Following after them is the British military, led by Elizabeth’s would-be fianc?, Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport).
Video
For this transfer Disney went with 50GB Blu-ray disc (BD50) and glorious AVC transfer in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the average bit rate ranges from 35 to 38 Mbps. In short ladies and gentleman this Pirates movie gives us the new benchmark in picture quality for HD optical. Up until this point, both Crank on Blu-ray and King Kong on HD DVD were the films to beat in HD optical picture quality. I was fortunate enough to watch the new Matrix Collection HD DVD box set yesterday, and not even it rivals this Curse of the Black Pearl disc. At no point in viewing Pirates did I experience any macro blocking or any noise of any type. I could not believe this considering the amount of both bright and dark scenes and also the amount action sequences. Also the film was extremely sharp and clear and free of any film debris and I mean zero debris whatsoever. I have not experienced this as of yet on HD optical until the viewing of this disc. This disc also contained little to no film grain. Colors (and this is a very colorful film) were extremely vibrant and flesh tones were spot-on. This disc is truly an AMAZING benchmark in picture quality.
Audio
Audio is another area where this disc excels. I watched using the PCM 5.1 option. For this option Disney went with a 48kHz/24-Bit encode and all I can say is WOW! Curse of the Black Pearl (along with Dead Man’s Chest) is the most encompassing and powerful film I have ever heard on HD optical. Until this point there have been several films on both formats which have really excelled in terms of audio quality and I have seen them all, however again Curse of the Black Pearl sets the new benchmark for audio quality. During the film, dialog is very well channeled through the center channel and the surrounds are used extensively throughout the film. This film also set a new standard for use of the LFE channel. By the end of viewing my subwoofer was exhausted. Again Disney has done an AMAZING job in setting the new standard in audio quality.
Special Features
This Curse of the Black Pearl disc is stocked with some great extras?
- Three audio commentaries ? The first by Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp; the second by Jerry Bruckheimer and Keira Knightley; and the third by Co-screenwriters Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert
- An Epic at Sea: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean ? A 38-Minute documentary of the making of this film. It basically interviews the main cast and crew members and they speak of the fear they felt on if this project would be successful of not. It also takes a look at the making of the special effects for this film. Really not a bad watch. It was interesting.
- Fly on the Set ? This is a collection of five videos that go into greater detail about specific parts of the film. This is also free of narration, so that may appeal to some. The five vignettes are titled “The Town Attack,” “Tortuga,” “The Blacksmith Shop,” “The Cave” & “Jack’s Hanging.”
- Movie Showcase ? Instant access to select movie scenes that showcase the ultimate in High Definition picture and sound.
- Three video diaries – The first is from Jerry Bruckheimer and is called “Photo Diary” next is the “Diary of a Pirate” which features actor Lee Arenberg, who plays “Pintel,” and finally there is “Diary of a Ship” which is by the crew of the real Lady Washington, the ship which stood in for the H.M.S. Interceptor in this film.
- 19 Deleted Scenes – Each scene runs around 1 minute each and in my opinion really does not add much to this part of the disc. These scenes are simply minor changes or extensions to existing scenes already in the film.
- Blooper Reel ? It is only around 3 minutes in length but does have some very funny moments and also some shots at stunts that were miscalculated.
- Image Gallery ? Around 200 different images ranging from publicity photos to scenes on the set to pictures of the production crew.
- Trailers ? Other Disney movies available on Blu-ray and also a new 1080p trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean ? At World?s End.
Final Thoughts
As I said previously in this review, we have the new benchmark for both picture quality and audio quality for HD optical. If there were ever a movie or movies you wanted to show your friends and family to show-off your home theater set-up, Curse of the Black Pearl is it. This disc is absolutely stunning in terms of picture quality and amazing in terms of audio quality. Having watched this film over 24 hours ago, the smile has still not left my face and I am anxious to watch it again with friends. In short, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the purchase of Curse of the Black Pearl, regardless if you are a fan or not of the movies, as they are pure eye and ear candy and will not let anyone down.
