Cinema In Context

Disney theme park films. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Jungle Cruise (2021) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), two action adventure films based on Disney theme park rides of the same names. We begin the discussion by focusing on Jungle Cruise, reflecting upon the circumstances of how we each saw the film, and then very quickly comparing it to Pirates of the Caribbean. We hark back to the heyday of DVDs, when Pirates of the Caribbean had just been released, alongside films like Transformers (2007) and The Incredibles (2003), and discuss the film in both context of its time and how it has aged over time. Our discussion then focuses on specific elements of Pirates of the Caribbean, including the direction of Gore Verbinski, the score headed up by Hans Zimmer, the on-the-fly writing of Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, including connections and comparisons to Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone, and the LucasArts Monkey Island game series. We then discuss the writing