M'boogie Snickel Snickel

The subject header, aye, that's Jack Sparrow Cannibal talk for ye. Savvy?

Three viewings of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and only 19 more to go to get to my Curse Of The Black Pearl record. I'm not talking about lazing about at home watching it on the ol' DVD while you clean your kitchen up (not a bad idea for tonight). I'm talking about paying good money to sit in the theater and watch it. M'boogie snickel snickel indeed!

This movie actually continues to get better every time I see it. There's no scene that matches the swash and buckle of the Black Pearl chasing the Interceptor. And of course, not since Jack Sparrow made his grand entrance, aloft the crows nest of a dinghy has any character made such a grand entrance in any movie, ever. It dethroned Mary Poppins lighting upon London on the end of a brolly for what will be a memorable if not legendary entrance on screen. Even better than Scarlett O'Hara peering up from her grand hat with a dozen beaus surrounding her. I could go on but I think you get my point. Savvy?

Dead Man's Chest is in week three and is at an estimaged $322 million. It's already closing in on Finding Nemo and a mere 60 million behind Sith. At this clip, could it come close to Star Wars or Titanic? I doubt it will dethrone Titanic - that intesreted literally everyone on the planet. I did think - in the middle of this - that it's quite possible this trilogy will be as memorable as Star Wars. The marketing on this is incredible this time around. But more to the point, it's got a lot of the same character elements as Star Wars. It's got a strong, sexy anti-hero (Jack Sparrow and Han Solo). It's got two naive youngsters (Will & Elizabeth, Luke & Leia). It's got a villian you love to hate (Darth Vader and Captain Barbossa) and a villian that is utterly vile (Davy Jones and Emporer Palpatine). It's the got the father/son conflict - a fallen father and idolizing son (Luke/Darth and Bootstrap/Will).. It's the beloved of a mode of transport, a ship (Millenium Falcon and The Black Pearl). It has two side kickes (C3po/R2D2 and Pintel/Ragetti). It takes place in exotic places with weird all-knowing characters living in swamps (Yoda and Tia Dalma). The character frequent places of ill repute, a haven of scum and villainy (Mos Eisley and Tortuga).

Come to think of it.. Methinks Pirate of the Caribbean has entirely ripped off Star Wars! Or rather, has Star Wars ripped off Pirate of the Caribbean?! When you think of how George Lucas fashioned Star Wars - after comic books and serials from the 50's, it would only make sense that the story archs would be similar to any standard Pirate Movie. So is it that Pirates is so true to the matinee Pirate flick that it actually comes full circle to one of the greatest triologies of cinema?

I'm glad I've had this little exercise in movie parallels because I went back and read entries in my journal from roughly a year ago. As it turns out, I used to be somewhat interesting and not bleating on about personal crap. I really need to re-engage my brain.

Time to swab the galley.