Da Da Da Da…Da Da Da.
That’s right…after 19 years…and two months… the 4th installment in the “Indiana Jones” series is out on DVD.
Of course, Harrison Ford is back. This time the movie is set in 1953 and the villains are Russians. The chief villain is played by Cate Blanchett, who, when she first heard she was going to be in the movie, thought she was going to play the love interest of Dr. Jones. Instead she leads a group of Russian soldiers looking to find the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and gain powers to control the rest of the world.
Indiana Jones is helped by a boy named Mutt…whose mother has been captured by the bad guys. He’s played nicely by Shia LaBeouf. Jones doesn’t realize that the boy’s mother is his former sweetheart Marion (Karen Allen back in her “Raiders of the Lost Ark” role) and that Mutt is actually…well…I don’t want to give too much away.
This is the first “Indiana Jones” I’ve seen, so a few times during “Crystal Skull” I didn’t pick-up on some past references, but other than that I really enjoyed it. There’s almost non-stop action. And the plot is easy to follow. It’s basically good guys versus bad guys. You can tell that Steven Spielberg loved being back directing another “Indy” film.
“The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” is rated PG-13. There is plenty of shooting and killing…but it isn’t graphic and there’s no blood. A few scary images may be too intense for younger kids. I say ages 10 and up should be able to handle the movie…and they’ll be entertained.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” gets a B+.
Some critics did not like “Indy 4” when it came out this summer. Maybe they were expecting too much. For me, if the other “Indiana Jones” adventures were better than this I can’t wait to see them.