Review of 'PIRATES 3' DVD
A quick rundown of the special features on the limited edition DVD set for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Tuesday, 4 December played host to the DVD release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Setting aside any comments on the film itself, here is the list of bonus features on the Two-Disc Limited Edition, along with brief comments.
DISC 1
Bloopers Of The Caribbean - If you've seen the DVDs for the previous two films, you know what to expect here.
DISC 2
Keith & The Captain: On Set With Johnny Depp And The Rock Legend - Richards shouldn't even be able to stand up, much less play the guitar. But he does both, the latter better than the former.
Anatomy Of A Scene: The Maelstrom - An in-depth examination of the climactic oceanic set-piece. Interesting fact: the gimbels used to rock the ships in their California warehouse set are the largest ever built for a movie production.
The Tale Of Many Jacks - Commenting on Jack Sparrow's introductory scene, in which the captain imagines many versions of himself, Ted Elliott said that he and co-writer Terry Rossio decided that, after two movies, they wanted to "just get weird." That explains a lot about Pirates 3.
Deleted Scenes - A fancy animated menu tries to downplay the inclusion of only two deleted scenes. The first scene, a Pintel-Ragetti aside, is forgettable. Scene 2, however, is funnier than much of what made it into the picture. Director Gore Verbinski explains that it covered ground already established--Jack's and Barbossa's battle for control. The same could be said for many pieces of this 2.5+ hours flick.
The World Of Chow Yun-Fat - Orlando Bloom makes an interesting comment: since Chow is the biggest movie star in China, a country of over a billion people, he is arguably the biggest star in the world. But the sweet, goofy and very huggable Chow never acts like it.
The Pirate Maestro: The Music Of Hans Zimmer - The great (and surprisingly humble) composer wrote over an hour of new music for Pirates 3, and gathered musicians and instruments from all over the world as he strove to push the boundaries of an already-epic body of music.
Masters Of Design - While I was able to get through the movie and bonus features in one sitting, I did so by skipping most of the selections from this sub-menu. But I couldn't resist the short piece on the Singapore set, which, production designer Rick Heinrichs explains, was meant to give the "feel of the place." For my money, that's all you get.
Hoist The Colours - Composer Zimmer was primarily responsible for the shockingly un-Disney inclusion of the doomed singing child at the film's opening. This song was co-written by Zimmer in London (scoring Batman Begins) and Verbinski in L.A. using iChat.
Inside The Brethren Court - Just when I thought we'd escaped the "Touch the Object" feature included on the previous DVD sets, I reached this selection. It has significantly less content than its predecessors: you click on one of the "nine pieces of eight" to learn about its owner, one of the infamous pirate lords.
BEST BUY DISC
Best Buy currently offers an additional disc of bonus features--included when you purchase Pirates 3 or separately for $5. This disc includes:
Pirates Of The Salt Flats - Follow Johnny and the crew to the unique landscape of Utah's Salt Flats, which stood in for Davy Jones' Locker. Average temperature: 120 degrees.
The Return Of The Dutchman - Interesting tidbit: the Flying Dutchman's outer hull was made of the same material as car bumpers, then molded around real wood planks for an authentic look.
Acting Below The Surface - Best moment of this featurette on the ship-tipping sequence: Depp performing CPR on his drowned wig.
Destroying The Endeavor - The majority of the explosions and debris for this scene were shot practically, but as a separate "plate." The actors were added later.
From Wax To Will: Orlando and Madame Tussaud's - The arduous process of inserting each strand of real human hair into the wax figures of the Pirates characters took four weeks!
World's End/World Premieres - Bloom's comment to a reporter that he's "always happy to come to Tokyo" is followed immediately by Bill Nighy's admission that the Asian premiere was his first trip to Japan. The fringe benefits of the heartthrob star over the career character actor.