Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Twice as overstuffed with special effects as its predecessor but less than half as entertaining, director Gore Verbinski's dispiriting sequel is built around a complicated and silly plot involving rascally Captain Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) effort to use a magic compass and mysterious key to locate and open a buried chest containing the beating heart of Davy Jones—a squid-faced ghoul to whom he owes a debt. Sparrow's quest is also linked to his old friends, lovebirds Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), who are forced to assist the authorities in trying to capture him. Unfortunately, any coherence is quickly dispensed with in favor of mindless slapstick set-pieces, in the apparently correct belief that today's viewers will be happy to settle for a string of bombastic effects sequences, which here include a daredevil escape from cages dangling over a gorge, a couple of giant-squid attacks, and a chase involving a large water wheel that becomes detached from its moorings. Like the amusement-park ride it's based on, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is efficient but mechanical, lacking an emotional core, and after galumphing about for two-and-a-half hours, it closes with one of those inconclusive, wait-for-the-sequel endings that seems more like a threat than a promise. Still, this one's critic-proof and sure to be as popular on DVD as it was in theatres. Purchase according to demand. [Note: DVD extras on this two-disc set include audio commentary by writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, a 63-minute “According to Plan” production journal, “Captain Jack: From Head to Toe” on costume design (28 min.), a “Charting the Return” preproduction diary (26 min.), a “Mastering the Blade” sword fighting featurette (16 min.), “Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend” (13 min.), a 13-minute “Dead Men Tell New Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction” featurette on the theme park ride, a “Creating the Kraken” featurette on making the giant squid creature (10 min.), “Jerry Bruckheimer: A Producer's Photo Diary” featurette (5 min.), “Pirates on Main Street: The World Premiere” (5 min.), “Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage” (4 min.), four minutes of “Bloopers of the Caribbean,” Easter eggs, and trailers. Bottom line: extras ahoy, matey, for an overlong and disappointing sequel.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review— Sept. 30, 2008—Disney, 150 min., PG-13, $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest sports an incredible transfer with English 5.1 uncompressed sound. The bonus features on this release are almost identical to those on the standard DVD release, including audio commentary by writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, a 63-minute “According to Plan” production journal, a “Captain Jack: From Head to Toe” featurette on costume design (28 min.), a “Charting the Return” preproduction diary (26 min.), a “Mastering the Blade” sword fighting featurette (16 min.), a “Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend” featurette (13 min.), a 13-minute “Dead Men Tell New Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction” featurette on the theme park ride, a “Creating the Kraken” featurette on making the giant squid creature (10 min.), a “Jerry Bruckheimer: A Producer's Photo Diary” featurette (5 min.), a “Pirates on Main Street: The World Premiere” featurette (5 min.), a “Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage” featurette (4 min.), four minutes of “Bloopers of the Caribbean,” Easter eggs, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the high-definition interactive game “Liar's Dice.” Bottom line: a reference-quality Blu-ray release of the uneven second film in the popular Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, this is also newly available in the Blu-ray boxed set Pirates of the Caribbean Three Movie Hi Def Collection, priced at $82.99.]