So you’re interested in the title of the post, and you’re probably thinking ‘what the fudge is Monkey Island?’. Let me start off by saying that the Monkey Island series was one of THE best adventure games made in history. Amazing story-line, lovable characters and witty dialogue that never gets boring. Not to mention the catchy, but never annoying background scores.
If you haven’t played any of the games, you probably would after reading this.
Comparison #1: Captain LeChuck and Davy Jones/ Captain Barbossa
Davy Jones
Captain Barbossa
Captain LeChuck
The most obvious similarity between the two are the antagonists LeChuck, Davy Jones and Captain Barbossa.
LeChuck is an undead evil pirate (the most feared pirate across the Caribbean) who commands an army of skeletal undead.
Barbossa is undead and commands an army of skeletal undead (in the first movie).
LeChuck can only be destroyed by a special ‘voodoo root’. Davy Jones can only be destroyed by stabbing his heart. Both of these objects are kept closely guarded in a chest.
Comparison #2: Elaine Marley and Elizabeth Swann
Elaine Marley
Elizabeth Swann
The fathers of both were Governers of their respective islands, both are the love interests of the protagonist, both get married to the protagonist in the end. Both are the only ‘bootiful’ women in the respective series. Go figure.
Comparison #3: The Voodoo Lady and Tia Dalma
The Voodoo Lady.
Tia Dalma.
Do I even need to explain? Both dabble in voodoo magic, both are ‘strange’, both have lived in a swamp at least once, in a wooden hut filled with candles and strange ingredients and other thingamajigs.
Comparison #4: Kidnapping the lead female.
LeChuck kidnaps Elaine. Multiple times.
Barbossa kidnaps Elizabeth. Sao Feng kidnaps Elizabeth. Davy Jones kidnaps Elizabeth.
Comparison #5: Herman Toothrot and “Bootstrap” Bill Turner
Herman Toothrot
“Bootstrap” Bill Turner
Herman is actually Horatio Marley the long-lost, thought-to-be-dead father of Elaine Marley. He has amnesia, but recovers later-on.
Bootstrap is the long-lost, thought-to-be-dead father of Will Turner. He suffers from short-term memory loss.
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There’s also all this talk about the dog-having-keys sequence, but that is an oft-repeated plot point in many other stories, so it can be forgiven.
These are just the blatant similarities. The more we go into depth, more subtle similarities can be found.
All in all, the Pirates trilogy was great and I loved watching the movies. The acting was superb and Johnny Depp even more so. I just feel that it would’ve been better if an animated (a la Curse of Monkey Island) movie series would have been made instead; By Lucas Films, not Disney. Especially since the PotC “borrowed” so much from the series.
Morbid Lustrum 
Good eye. It’s actually more than a rip off though…the screenplay was in development at Lucasarts as a Monkey Island film before being adapted for POTC.
Interesting. Well, now that puts a whole new twist on things. I wish they had gone through with it. The POTC franchise was entertaining and all, but it comes nowhere close to the atmosphere and feel the MI games had.
And the fact that you have to sail a coffin to get to both Voodoo Lady and Tia dalma??? and the look Will Turner has in the first movie… soooo Guybrush Threppwood.