PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

For years, big budget Hollywood movies have been turned into theme park rides. Now someone at Disney had the seemingly-daft notion of turning classic Disneyland attractions into movies. Well, why not? Everybody tends to describe action movies as thrill rides anyway surely some decent heroes and villains and a simple plot can be thrown into the general pace and atmosphere created for the amusement park. But Disney faced an added difficulty in that their initial choice was for one of Disneyland's oldest rides, a fun but hokey affair in which customers ride through tunnels in chain-towed boats to look at mechanical dummies enacting stereotypical scenes of pirate lore. Worse yet, Hollywood had failed to produce a successful pirate movie since the 1950s, when the ride was built. Probably the only hit pirate movies since then are Jackie Chan's PROJECT A movies.

But it stands to reason that, since exciting pirate adventure movies had been made before, they can certainly be made again. Genres don't die they just fade away until someone makes a good entry again. Such a return to form is PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: Curse of the Black Pearl, a crackling story wed to wonderful performances, stunts and f/x. The key to the equation is that action king Jerry Bruckheimer, a man adept at mounting big epics that entertain audiences, was hired as producer. In turn, Bruckheimer hired Gore Verbinski, the man who went from Budweiser frogs to THE RING, to direct. In turn, they hired Johnny Depp, a gifted actor that usually doesn't appear in action vehicles, to play a key role. Together, these three managed to take this apparently-shaky project and turn it into the surprise hit of the summer of 2003.

Of course, they had a great story to work with. PIRATES takes every pirate movie cliché and stitches them into a tale of delicately balanced romance, adventure, mystery, humor, and supernatural thrills. Much of the joy in the film is derived from the gradual revelation of plot details and motivations that continues all the way into the last act, but here it is in a nutshell... Well, the nut here is Depp, who portrays his character Captain Jack Sparrow as if he's been mixing a few too many prescriptions. Sparrow arrives in the British colony town of Port Royal with the intention of stealing a ship with which to pursue his old ship the Black Pearl, which was stolen from him in a mutiny engineered by his former first mate Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) some years ago. Sparrow's plans are dashed when he rescues from drowning the governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), and he's thrown in prison to await execution. However, the crew of the Black Pearl comes to him they raid the port, drawn to a gold coin in Elizabeth's possession by a curse that's befallen them since leaving Sparrow to die on a desert island. The coin, in fact, is actually the property of young blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), but it was taken from him by Elizabeth when he was found floating adrift in the sea as a boy.

All these elements and characters, plus a few subplots, come together beautifully in what promises to be a fine seafaring adventure. However, the film includes a terrific twist that helps raise it to the level of instant classic the true nature of the terrible curse, which is only fully revealed under the light of the moon.

Buena Vista delivers a spotless THX certified transfer of what's surely their second-biggest selling DVD of the year (after their other summer score, FINDING NEMO). For all its virtues, this is one movie whose remarkable music and sound design stand out above all else and that's saying something. The score is another surprise; main themes by Hans Zimmer have been redressed and added to by ten other composers to meet a tight release schedule, and it all works amazingly well, even when layered over creaking beams, crashing waves, cannon fire, screaming pirates, clattering swords and swashing buckles.

The bane of DVD commentraks is that it's harder than it sounds to keep chatter going throughout the length of a feature film. Too often, participants are drawn into watching the film, don't have enough inspiration or interaction, or just run out of material. BVHE solves this problem with a nifty idea: commentary recorded for tracks by producer Bruckheimer and starlet Knightley (with support from actor Jack Davenport) has been edited down, with only the best material playing over sections of the film. Bruckheimer's comments are rather reserved and flat, but the teenage Knightley is a hoot, giving self-deprecating play-by-play of her performance in a thick Cockney accent, and generally sounding like a drunken Spice Girl. Two full length commentraks are also provided. One with Verbinski and Depp gives a revealing view of the project despite the amount of creative input they both had, they still sound like visitors to the set, wondering at the epic's scope. The track that assembles the writing team is, unfortunately, less engaging, as they rehash a lot of stories and spend too much time identifying which elements they contributed.

Disc one is filled out with less space-grabbing DVD-ROM material, which includes the script and more text-based features, with the wealth of video extras landing on disc two, all with nicely designed nautical menus. The main stage is taken by a fluffy Making-Of documentary, which can be taken in one gulp or dished up in sections. Different facets of the film are highlighted in more in-depth features following. "Fly on the Set" is a collection of random behind-the-scenes video clips. Three different diary sections are given to Bruckheimer's photos taken on location, the pirate-cam of supporting character actor Lee Arenberg, and the crew of one of the ships. Learning becomes fun in an interactive tour of pirate lifestyle and history. Of course, there's a goofy blooper reel and a generous brace of deleted or extended scenes.

But by far my favorite section is the one devoted to the development and history of the Disneyland attraction, including an episode of WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR. "You believe in pirates, don't you?" Uncle Walt asks Disneyland guide Julie, as if he's talking about fairies. Well, everybody who believes in pirates, please rattle your scabbards.