Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom-Not Doomed Just Not As Good
Gee some movies sort of give it all away in the title. Guess what this one is about? Indiana Jones goes to India to find some precious stones and uncovers some additional mysteries in the Temple of Doom. No one can accuse any of the Indiana Jones movies of being extremely original in plot or script, but efforts are made to be original and innovative in terms of set design and special and visual effects. Overall, like many sequels of the era, as well as our current era, you get what you paid for, namely more of the same. Once again, we find Indiana in exciting locals and on exciting adventures and once again it is Ford, who plays Indiana Jones, who carries the day with his charisma.
The collaboration of Lucas and Spielberg continues to work well and the film feels bigger than its predecessor, let overall lacks some of the intangible magic of the first. Perhaps it was the fact that all involved had done it all before and were now bored. Perhaps it is the fact that the villains, while horrible, just are not the Nazis. On the plus side are the additions of Jonathan Ke Quan as Short Round and Kate Capshaw as Willie Scott, as both work well as Indiana Jones sidekicks and traveling comparisons and give the film that all important family feel, of sorts. However, don’t be too surprised if you see Ke Quan on the side of a milk cartoon sometime soon. What happened to this kid? Talk about a disappearing act huh?
Once again the Indiana Jones series doesn’t take itself too seriously which is a key component to its success and is present once more in the Temple of Doom. All involved really deserve some acknowledgment for this more difficult than its seems. Striking the perfect balance between scoffing at a situation and deviating into slapstick can be pretty tough, especially while keeping the audience laughing and engaged in the action at hand. This is where the series excels.
While a little less success at the box-office than Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom still earned big bucks and firmly established the fact that the Indiana Jones series would be just that–a series.
Story C+
Acting B+
Visuals A
Originality/Innovation B-
Enjoyability Grade A
Home Theater/HD Factor A
Overall Grade B
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