Pirates of the Caribbean is an action-packed movie trilogy about adventure and betrayal on the high seas. It follows the swashbuckling story of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp); the rich and repressed Governor’s daughter, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley); and her poor but honorable love interest, blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom).

In the first film, ‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’, pirates pillage Elizabeth’s city and take her prisoner. She soon realizes that these are no ordinary pirates; the crew of the Black Pearl has been doomed to an undead existence because of their theft of cursed Aztec gold. Barbossa, the captain of the ghostly ship, mistakenly believes that Elizabeth is the daughter of pirate “Bootstrap Bill” Turner. Since the curse can only be broken by returning all of the gold – along with a blood sacrifice from every pirate involved in the theft – Barbossa hopes to use Elizabeth’s blood to break the curse. His plans are thwarted when he dribbles her blood on the cursed gold, but the curse remains. Barbossa’s plans are further thwarted by Will and Jack, who forge an unlikely alliance to rescue Elizabeth – and return the Black Pearl to Jack, its rightful captain.

Part two, ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, picks up where part one left off: Elizabeth and Will are arrested for springing Jack from the executioner’s block. We also learn some of Jack Sparrow’s history: he made a deal with the unearthly Davy Jones, who raised the sunken Black Pearl and made Sparrow its captain. In return, Jack agreed to 100 years of servitude aboard Jones’s ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. Now Jack’s debt is due. He is reunited with Will and Elizabeth, who were released after agreeing to hunt for Sparrow and his magical compass, rumored to point to whatever the bearer wants most. After fleeing from cannibals and consulting priestess Tia Dalma, Jack goes down in a battle against the monstrous kraken.

‘At World’s End’, the third installment in the series, sees Jack Sparrow rescued from the watery depths of Davy Jones’s Locker and thrust into a battle against the pirate-hating East India Trading Company. Colonel Beckett, a recurring antagonist, has taken possession of Davy Jones’s heart, and uses it to force Davy Jones to destroy pirate ships. After a series of betrayals between Beckett and the pirates who had sought his protection, Elizabeth Swann is named Pirate Lord of the South China Sea and, later, Pirate King. Barbossa returns and regains command of the Black Pearl, Will Turner takes Davy Jones’s place on the Flying Dutchman, the sea goddess Calypso is released from her imprisonment, and Jack Sparrow sails away on a dinghy, all alone. The film leaves a wide opening for another sequel, and there are rumors that a fourth film will be released in 2012.

Based on a Walt Disney theme park ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean films made it cool to be a pirate – or at least to look like one. Now many birthday parties are based on pirate themes, and pirates are a perennial Halloween favorite for kids and adults alike.