Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)

If there is anyone out there wondering if Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is any good the answer is yes. Considering the film has made $1,064,147,179 worldwide I am assuming there aren't many of you that are actually wondering that though. And yes, that is $1 billion, not million. There are not a lot of films that hold up to that number. Yeah, Return of the King made about $50 million more worldwide, but domestically Pirates won by about $50 million. Suffice to say it is one of the most entertaining films of all-time!

Dead Man's Chest begins as the wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is put on hold as the couple is charged with aiding in the escape of Captain Jack Sparrow. However these charges are part of a much larger plot to obtain the mysterious compass Jack has in his possession. The compass hold's the secret to the hidden location of Davy Jones' secret chest and our epic begins. The story doesn't require much thinking, all it asks is that you sit back and enjoy as it bounces from action-packed scene to action-packed scene. Mixing elements of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with what made the original so good this sequel is sure to entertain any fun-loving moviegoer.

On top of the film there is a whole galleon of features to keep anyone entertained for hours if you are so inclined. Let's take a look.

Bloopers of the Caribbean - Before I say too much you should know these are brought to you by Verizon Wireless. Without them apparently the bloopers would not have made it onto the DVD. Thanks Verizon. As for the bloopers, they are a'ight. A lot of laughing on set and goof ups with just about everyone.

Audio Commentary - The commentary is with writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and it is actually pretty good and considering what they have created it is quite astonishing. There isn't a ton said about the third film if that is what you are looking for, but if you have the time you should give it a listen.

Charting the Return (25:39) - Check out the beginnings of the sequels as this documents the days leading up to the first day of principal photography with an expected shoot of 200 days. They suffer through not having a script and hike, swim and repel down to scouting locations. Gore Verbinski says it all when he says, "Nobody should make a pirate movie after we're done."

According to Plan (1:02:58) - An hour long feature looking behind-the-scenes at the making of the film starting with crew immunizations as they head on out to St. Vincent. You will see them build roads in Dominica, shoot underwater, hike to sets, perform gimbal work, the differences between the CG effects and the practical effects used, how they dealt with hurricanes and learn that they shot 355 miles of film for this pic.

Captain Jack: From Head to Toe - A behind-the-scenes interactive look at Captain Jack's costume, how it was created and why, and it really does go from head to toe.

Mastering the Blade - A look at how Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Jack Davenport learned how to fight with swords. Each one runs just over five minutes.

Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend (12:32) - An awesome look at how they made Davy Jones and his beard of tentacles out of virtually nothing. Bill Nighy gives an awesome performance but he had pretty much nothing to work with besides a little bit of makeup around the eyes and mouth and a grey suit. Yup, the rest was CGI, which I am sure you imagined, but your imagination couldn't think this big. You will go behind-the-scenes with ILM and see how it was all created even a look at how the coloring for some of Jones' tentacles came from a coffee stained Styrofoam cup.

Creating the Kraken (9:57) - An amazing look at how they made the Kraken and how they mixed practical elements with CG elements to create what you see on screen. Really good and kept short and sweet. Also, you get to see the tests before Johnny takes the goo to the face along with the actual shot and his reaction.

Dead Men Tell New Tales (13:00) - A look at how the did a little touch-up work to the actual Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride. It's interesting for about five minutes, but beyond that it wears very thin.

Fly on the Set: The Bone Cage (3:47) - A short look at the filming of the Bond Cage scene as the boys swing from blue screen to blue screen.

Jerry Bruckheimer: A Producer's Photo Gallery - Jerry Bruckheimer loves to show us his photos and that is what he does here. Honestly I don't mind looking at Keira Knightley, but the rest doesn't interest me too much.

Pirates on Main Street (3:58) - A look at the red carpet premiere of the film. Oh boy.

As you can see this set is packed and along with a fantastic looking picture and a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track it is only missing the DTS track the original Pirates disc had to make it a perfect release. Personally I think everyone should own a copy of both Pirates 1 and 2 as the third is set to hit theaters next May. You can believe I am already counting the days.