Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Disney has released the franchise starting swashbuckling adventure film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio. The bundled Blu-ray is identical to disc one from the 2008 trilogy set; disc two with its additional features is not included.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Disney, what happened? The studio's 4K UHD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl shows all the telltale signs of gross processing and looks like it should have been released a decade or more ago. The picture's grain has been reduced to a meshy, artificial appearance, looking frozen and flat and certainly less than genuine and flattering. Edge enhancement is in evidence. Textures have been scrubbed down and sharpened back up. Details appear waxy and lacking complexity. It's not that there is no detail, it's that it's been manipulated, rendered less than ideally lifelike or at least filmic, robbing the picture of its grand visual complexity and natural filmic beauty.

The HDR color grading does little to make the image pop, either. The grading renders the image darker and some colors deeper such as Sparrow's red bandana or the red British military uniform and flag colors, but there's not a lot of pop or depth. Black levels are middling, flesh tones are pasty, and whites lack brilliance. This is just a real clunker of a UHD image and one of the least impressive the format has seen.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is wanting at reference level. The track lacks fullness and aggression when played back at calibrated reference norms. It's basically the same song and dance from most Disney releases, where there's just not a lot of verve or vigor at work. The subwoofer is not muted, but neither does the track exhibit the kind of commanding low-end depth the material demands (such as when the Pearl shells Port Royal in chapter four). The overhead channels are used sparingly, at least in terms of offering discrete effects. A few bursts do manage to reach up above for obvious engagement, but light complimentary duty is about all that's here. The net improvements to spatial engagement over the old LPCM 5.1 track are negated by the lackluster dynamics and depth. Dialogue does present clearly from the center and musical engagement is appropriately wide and immersive with positive definition to all instrumental elements.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For the previous Blu-ray release, Disney split the supplemental content between two Blu-ray discs. Unfortunately, the studio has only included disc one from that set. With no supplements on the UHD disc, buyers are going to have to hang on to the legacy release, or at least disc two from it, to have access to the full extras suite. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Blu-ray:

• Audio Commentary: Director Gore Verbinski and Actor Johnny Depp.
• Audio Commentary: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Actors Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport.
• Audio Commentary: Screenwriters Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Jay Wolpert.
• Scoundrels of the Sea
• About Scoundrels of the Sea
• Movie Showcase

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What a shame. A genuinely fun movie, a true spectacle, and alive with bountiful colors and teeming with opportunity for rich textural 4K delights has been reduced to an artificially sharpened, edge enhanced, crummy looking clunker of a UHD. The audio really isn't anything special, either. It also includes only a portion of the supplements from the old Blu-ray, which honestly looks better than this. Save some money and stick with the original Blu-ray.