About Dora the Explorer

When you have little girls in your life, it's kind of hard to avoid Dora and her merry band of helpers. If you're not familiar with her, just go here to discover more than you probably really want to know.

Last night, while babysitting the grandpeeps for a bit, we had a Dora movie on. I'm not sure what the name of the movie is, but it revolved around Dora and her merry band trying to rescue a magic crown for a mermaid.

The mermaid's underwater home had some bad problems, most of which revolved around garbage. It seems some unknown entity was dumping its garbage right on top of the coral castles where this princess and her mermaids/mermen friends lived.

How the magic crown would solve the garbage problems I didn't quiet catch, but it seemed essential to the task.

Now, Dora cannot solve these problems on her own. No, she has her map, which talks -- sings, even -- and changes as episodes require. Oh, and I did I mention that all these folks are bilingual?

Dora also has her nemesis, Swiper, a foxy-looking creature who wears an bandanna over his eyes and has a nasty habit of steeling the very thing Dora is looking for. Because Dora's always looking for something.

Now, in the movie last night, Swiper's stealing habit actually was used to the good, because he was used to swipe the crown away from the bad garbage guy.

But Dora's number one friend is Backpack. (Could the show creators think up no better name than THAT?) Backpack goes everywhere with Dora, on her back, and of course, he talks. (In English and Spanish.) But what struck me last night was Backpack's scary resemblance to another character I had seen in a movie last week....

I had re-watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And remember in the climactic scene ... when Quirrell begins unwrapping his head scarf ... and there's Voldemort talking on the back of Quirrell's head!?

That was all I could think of when watching Backpack yakking away last night on Dora's back.

Coincidence? I certainly hope so, or otherwise, Dora's no better than Quirrell, or even Ginny Weasley--taken over by Voldemort. Stay tuned.

Well, how about you? What weird movie connections have you found yourself makin'?