As the other reviewer stated, this is a repackaging of the previously released Pirates of the Caribbean blu-ray discs, with all the extras that were on those discs, but no new additional material. To rehash what you get:"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" Review:
This is the strongest of the 3 films. Although each film definitely has somewhat of a "fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants" type story style (as if there were no strong script, but rather ideas that popped up on set), this one actually works and makes for a very fun viewing experience. Pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, who created this legendary film character) teams up with blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to help rescue the Governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from pirate Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Of course there is treasure involved as well as a curse. Depp walks away with the picture. The love interest (Bloom & Knightley) do their best to compete, but without Depp, this picture would have tanked. Amazing special effects and plenty of swashbuckling action!
Extras :
* 3 Audio commentary tracks: #1 is director Gore Verbinski & Johnny Depp; #2 is producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Keira Knightley, and Jack Davenport; #3 is co-screenwriters Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, and Jay Wolpert
* Lots of trailers, including one for POTC 3 in HD 1080p
* "An Epic at Sea: The Making of Pirates of the Caribbean" which is a 9-part 38 minute documentary.
* "Fly on the Set" documentary which describes in greater depth 5 different sequences in the film ("The Town Attack," "Tortuga," "The Blacksmith Shop," "The Cave" and "Jack's Hanging")
* "Moonlight Serenade Progression" which shows from pre-production to the final scene of how the spectral pirates came to be
* 3 on-set "diaries": Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's "Photo Diary" (4 min.), "Diary of a Pirate" (9 min.), featuring actor Lee Arenberg (Pintel), and "Diary of a Ship" (8 min.) by the crew of the real Lady Washington, which was used as the H.M.S. Interceptor in the film
* 19 deleted scenes
* Blooper reel
* Vintage "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" (Jan. 1968) excerpt describing how the Disneyland attraction came to be, and includes a "ride-through" of the attraction itself.
* Photo/image gallery
* "Scoundrels at Sea": customize your viewing experience with this exclusive-to-Blu-ray feature, allowing you to access trivia, clips, etc. on your own. A lot of work, but can add a little fun to repeated viewings.
* And plenty of Easter Eggs!
* Specs: English PCM 5.1 surround track, 2.40:1 widescreen
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" Review:
Although it has its moments and plenty of wonderful special effects, I felt that this one was somewhat of a disappointment. The Jack Sparrow character is not quite as quirky as he is in the first film, but rather a little overdone. This film has a feeling of being made up as it was being filmed. Too much explanation of plot twists and too many intricate ribbons to tie together things that were not originally intended to be tied together...this franchise officially begins to bloat with this 2nd installment. This time, Jack Sparrow must lift the curse of eternal damnation by recovering the heart of the slimy Davy Jones, which is inside the Dead Man's Chest. Stabbing the heart would not only destroy Jones, but also set free Will Turner's father, Bootstrap Bill.
Extras :
* 1 Audio commentary track with co-screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
* Lots of trailers, including one for POTC 3 in HD 1080p
* "Charting the Course" is a 26 minute pre-production documentary
* "According to Plan: The Harrowing and True Story of Dead Man's Chest" is a 63 minute look at the actual filming, which was plagued with many a problem (and shows in the final product)
* "Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend" (13 min.) shows how actor Bill Nighy was transformed into the octopus-like character Davy Jones
* "Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage" (4 min.)
* "Mastering the Blade" (16 min.) shows how the stars learned to swashbuckle with swords
* "Captain Jack: From Head to Toe" (22 min.) shows how Jack Sparrow was costumed...very cool to see the attention to detail.
* "Dead Men Tell New Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction" (13 min.) shows how the Disneyland attraction was changed to include characters from the film (interesting to see Depp come face to face with his Audio Animatronic counterpart)
* "Pirates on Main Street" (4 minutes) shows the premiere at Disneyland
* "Jerry Bruckheimer: A Producer's Photo Diary" (5 min.) shows stills from the production
* "Liar's Dice" a blu-ray exclusive game with dice
* And plenty of Easter Eggs!
* Specs: Uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround track, 2.35:1 widescreen
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" Review:
This is one of those movies that requires multiple viewings to appreciate it and catch all of the nuances. I was not bowled over by it the first time I saw it, and still think that it could have been tightened up quite a bit in the editing room, however, it is a nice end to the trio of POTC movies. It seemed like the pressure to make this installment better than the others is felt throughout; the first movie was nothing but a joyful and spontaneous romp with Jack Sparrrow and his supporting characters. By installment 3, you sense an almost over-manufactured quality, as if the franchise is on steroids. The comments by the crew in the extras almost bear this out; especially in the Tale of Many Jacks featurette. "How do we keep it unexpected?" the crew asks, responding, "Maike it weird." However, the weird becomes "tedious" (the word they use to describe the filming of the scene), and especially when watching the multiple Jack sequence, I kept asking myself "Why is this scene necessary?" Although it is technically brilliant, it really does nothing to further the plot along, and just adds to the yawn factor. One thing Walt Disney really understood was good storytelling; even though a sequence maybe astounding, if it doesn't integrate into the whole, it should be removed. There are 2 deleted scenes on the disk; "I Like Riddles" and "Two Captains, One Ship." The 2 Captains scene is extremely fun to watch as you see the competition between Barbossa and Sparrow. It has the light playful feeling that was part of the original, but somewhat gone in part 3. And as most probably know, you must watch the movie even AFTER the credits...there is a short scene at the end that wraps the bow up even more neatly to complete the trilogy. Without giving away a plot spoiler, I have to say that the final sequence before the credits gave me hope that if there is another installment, that the producers realized they need to focus on Sparrow and cut the weight of all the extra storylines: the love story of Will and Elizabeth, the Chinese Pirates, the Brethren Court, Tia Dalma, etc...it is just too much.
Extras :
* Bloopers
* Lots of trailers
* Deleted scenes
* "Anatomy of a Scene: The Maelstrom" (20 min.) An in depth look at this amazing scene.
* "Masters of Design" (25 min.) 5 featurettes which describe the Costuming (Keith Richards amazing wardrobe by Penny Rose), Sao Feng's Map, The Code Book, Crash McCreary: The Cursed Crew, and Rick Heinrichs: Singapore.
* "The Tale Of The Many Jack" (5 min.) shows how this bizarre (and superfluous) scene created multiple Jack Sparrows.
* "The World of Chow Yun Fat" (5 min.) is a little odd in that he speaks Mandarin with subtitles, but still interesting, as it enlightens us as to what a presence he is and how he pretty much brought his own methods of filming/working to the project and was allowed to do so because he is such an international star.
* "Keith & the Captain: On Set With Johnny And The Rock Legend" (5 min.) is lots of fun; almost like a train wreck as the poor man speaks unintelligibly, but he is still magic when he picks up a guitar and starts to strum.
* "The Pirate Maestro: The Music of Hans Zimmer" (10 min.) is another case of being pressured; you hear how he also wants to outdo the previous films. Interesting to watch one of the musicians play a saw and then see Verbinski jamming on an electric guitar.
* "Hoist the Colors" (5 minutes) Composer Zimmer tells how the opening song came to be.
* 2 Deleted Scenes
* "Inside the Maelstrom" blu-ray exclusive is an approximately 40 minute interactive look into the creation of this amazing special effects sequence.
* "Movie Showcase" blu-ray exclusive features Disney's patented Movie Showcase chapter access function.
* And plenty of Easter Eggs!
* Specs: Uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround track, 2.35:1 widescreen
My minor complaint is that the second and third disc seem to not have the same high quality as the first and it always takes some adjustment on the HDTV to keep the quality consistent. The Samsung reports 1080i on disc two and three while one is registered as the 1080p; don't know why. This should not hold you back, because the quality of the trilogy is among the best we've seen.
If you have to own just one Blu-Ray it should be from this series.Just so this is 100% clear, this is for the Seven-Disc Blu-ray version released 3/1/11.
The set includes 7 discs, one for each movie, containing the movie, one for each movie, containing extras and a 7th disc, which is basically more extras and a preview of the 4th movie.
The packaging of this set is awful. The seventh disc is in an envelope that bulges out from back of the storage box. Thinking it was attached with easy to remove rubber glue, I tried to peel it off. I was horrified to find out that a) it won't easily peel off without ripping the box b) there's a giant blank silver reflective patch under it (practically the size of the entire back of the box) and c) the envelope is attached at the bottom of the box and cannot be separated without cutting. For anyone planning to keep this on their shelf, do NOT try to remove the cheap outer envelope. Personally, all my discs are going into a different storage system, so the box was headed to the trash anyway. Just wanted to give everyone some fair warning about the poor packaging. On to the good...
I am not a huge fan of these movies content. The first one is decent, the second is tolerable and the third is downright terrible. Rather than bash poor writing and the other host of problems with the movie, let me say this: these Blu-rays look and sound absolutely incredible. In the first movie, there's a scene in the beginning where Elizabeth Swan is waking up from her dream about rescuing William Turner as a child. There is a candle in the room. I can hear the candle flickering on the surround sound. There are many other great instances on this film: sails flapping in the wind, waves lapping, wind blowing, ships creaking. I have no Blu-ray movies that are truly 100% immersive, this set is as close as it gets. The action scenes are also great. They didn't overdo the bass or LFE at all, like most action films unfortunately do. The fact that the audio is produced in full lossless LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) makes a huge difference. Visually, the movie is just as stunning. Disney is well known for doing an awesome job of porting their movies to Blu-ray and this is no exception. This is truly a reference quality set of movies and I highly recommend it to anyone who really wants to show off their home theater system and put it through its paces.
This is, by far, the best looking Blu-ray set I've ever seen. If you want to see the future of home theater, buy this set. Absolutely awesome.Undoubtedly reviewed thousands of times already, this set is perfect during those lazy, rainy Saturdays for both children and adults alike. The acting is entertaining and the special effects are superb. Sometimes the personal relationships are difficult to follow and many of the action sequences border on the unbelieveable, but the set still provides hours of clean entertainment you don't mind watching over and over again.Pirates has been translated into wonderful blu-rays. Much has been written about the movies. So, I won't touch that here.
The discs really are great. However, an important note, you must proactively select the Uncompressed LPCM soundtrack in the SETUP menu every time you watch. Apparently, because the hi-res is uncompressed Disney was worried about compatibility (or maybe it's a blu-ray spec?) and they made plain-old Dolby Digital the default.
Update: 10/25/10 After watching these a few times now, I've had several instances where the menus do not load properly. I have to eject and restart, sometimes multiple times. Yes, it could be the player, but I've never had a problem on tens of other discs. This issue combined with the need to proactively choose the Uncompressed soundtrack costs this item a star from me.
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