Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Thank you Disney. Not in a good way, but thanks for providing a discourse around this format that can finally exclude the Terminator 2 4K mess. Pirates of the Caribbean is a disaster worthy of fresh scorn. Curse of the Black Pearl takes a hefty shot from DNR, and the resulting smeariness is akin to watching the disc on an early 2000s LCD screen - nostalgic, maybe, but but abhorrent for this format.

What film grain remains appears added after the digital tools did their worst. Couple that to what looks like an older, insufficient scan, and Curse of the Black Pearl never stood a chance. Fidelity doesn't make any notable gains over the decade (plus) old Blu-ray. This master was done for the early HD era at best, as the numerous halos from edge enhancement serve as a relic.

Even the HDR pass fails. Blacks crush shadows constantly. Brightness doesn't make an impact aside from an occasional flame. Even then, given the awful crush, there's no depth to speak of. It's all rendered in muddy, imprecise gradients, but that follows along the dulled color. Flat flesh tones and dry primaries fail to enliven Curse of the Black Pearl.

Audio

Although in Atmos now, Disney's performs to their unfortunate norm and restricts dynamic range, leaving cannon fire disappointingly dull. There's barely any weight in the low-end. Explosions falter, poor enough to question whether the subwoofer is turned on at all.

This is a new mix though since the height channels track gunfire and debris fields well. While not frequent, overheads do make a difference where appropriate. The rest is active, easily on par with what used to be a reference grade DVD and Blu-ray. However, due to the minimized bass, the Blu-ray track is a better choice.