The film: Who would have thought Johnny Depp would make the grade as an action star? And who would have thought he'd enter the genre in such spectacular fashion? Depp plays Captain Jack Sparrow and produces one of cinema's oddest accents. It's part Keith Richards, part Dr John. Part inspired, part insane. Then there's Geoffrey Rush as his equally off-the-wall nemesis, Captain Barbossa.

The production is based on a Disney theme park ride, and that alone had people in some quarters holding their breath with fear. But it turned out to be one of the year's most enjoyable frolics. Director Gore Verbinski made a name for himself with his remake of the Japanese horror gem The Ring, and here proves himself more than adequate at handling films that are epic in both scale and design. The action flows thick and fast, as does the romance courtesy of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley (pictured with Depp). However, as pretty as they are, they are no match for Depp's whirling dervish.

Plot here is of little concern. There's treasure, there's betrayal, there's revenge. And there's lots of throaty growling. Thankfully the computer generated images are given minimum exposure - and when they are called on, they are used fairly wisely. For the pirates, you have a rag-tag bunch of extras looking suitably grim. For the naval lads, you have humourless blunderers. Every swashbuckling cliche is given a good keel-hauling, but that's easy to forgive as Pirates never dares to take itself too seriously. How could it, with Depp mincing all over the place?

The switch to DVD format is a godsend for those who feared the 143 minutes might be a too long in the dark for some kids.

The extras: As you might expect from an action-comedy romp, Disney has packed in the extras. There are documentaries, featurettes, diaries and deleted scenes. Best of all, though, is the Below Deck section - a guided tour of a pirate ship. And if you want to know where the idea came from, there's a tour of the Disney theme park.

The verdict: Frivolous fun.