Disney brings another catalog favorite to UHD, 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, featuring a nice upgraded transfer and Atmos mix. (Available January 2, 2022)
The Production: 4.5/5
Back in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl had a lot going against it. Movies about pirates were considered the kiss of death at the box office in recent years, and it was based on a the popular theme park attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, also considered a kiss of death after the disastrous box office returns from The Country Bears and Mission to Mars. With the exception of The Ring, director Gore Verbinski’s previous films were not hugely successful. Somehow, with a screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Aladdin, Shrek, The Mask of Zorro), scene stealing performances by Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, a star-making performance by Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom riding on the coat-tails of his success in the Lord of the Rings movies, the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie was a success with both critics and audiences alike, earning over $650 million worldwide. How does it hold up 18 years later? Remarkably well, just as funny and entertaining as it was during its initial theatrical release and the then-state-of-the-art visual effects have not aged, either.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was photographed on 35mm film stock in the Super 35 format and completed as a 2K digital intermediate in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Disney’s 2160p upscale adds HDR10 high dynamic range, which gives the film some added depth and improved contrast (the beautiful clouds are much more noticeable in the UHD release), although the 2007 Blu-ray release is still no slouch. Colors are naturally vibrant without appearing overly saturated. Detail gets a modest upgrade, with slightly more refined textures overall. Unlike the recent UHD disc releases of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Unbreakable, the Blu-ray edition included in this set is not remastered and is the same as the single-disc release available since 2007.
Audio: 5/5
While not exactly a “showy” mix, the default Dolby Atmos track is a slight improvement over what was already a fairly active 5.1 mix. LFE remains strong, a surprise for a Disney Atmos mix. There really isn’t any real discrete use of heights, but the Atmos mix has more perceived “headroom” than its original 5.1 mix (found on the included Blu-ray in both lossy Dolby Digital and uncompressed PCM) or the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core embedded in the Atmos track. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout.
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Special Features: 2.5/5
As usual, the UHD disc contains no extras whatsoever. Unfortunately, Disney has only included the first disc from the previous 2-disc Blu-ray release from 2007. While that disc does include some of the more interesting special features, that second disc contained a treasure trove (pun intended) of material, including An Epic at Sea making-of documentary, Fly on the Set, Deleted Scenes, Blooper Reel, and several hours of additional material.
Scoundrels of the Sea: Pop-up trivia track with video featurettes.
Movie Showcase: Three sequences from the movie that were thought, at the time, to show off the capabilities of Blu-ray.
Audio Commentary with Director Gore Verbinski and Actor Johnny Depp
Audio Commentary with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Actors Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport
Audio Commentary with Screenwriters Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Jay Wolpert
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy in UHD on Movies Anywhere. Some of the missing disc-based featurettes are included on the Movies Anywhere app.
Overall: 4/5
While it is nice to see Disney occasionally digging into their live action catalog for UHD release, it is disappointing that an entire disc’s worth of extras was not included in this release. For those upgrading from Blu-ray, you may want to hold on to the second bonus disc before giving away your old 2-disc Blu-ray.
Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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