Movie Review: Indiana Jones Trilogy
Rate This Article
What Parents Should Know
This action adventure series may have the best first 10
minutes in movie history, but the series is also what forced
the creation of the PG-13 rating -- because the second in the
installment,
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was so gorey and
frightening. The first film is tops. The second is overlaid
with gore, but the third sees the welcome return of merriment.
All three are unrivaled for thrills. The RAIDER's score is
exceptional.
Teens are really the ones who will appreciate this film's combination of breathtaking, funny and scary action. But younger kids may want to see it, and parents should use caution with more sensitive children.
The film may encourage kids to explore archeology, and may have them punching and kicking their way around the house. Families who see this movie may want to discuss how Indiana coped with his fears and didn't let them stop him.
Common Sense Media Review
Indiana Jones, professor of archeology, faces all manner of
peril as he desperately races to locate the lost Ark of the
Covenant, rescue enslaved children, and find the Holy Grail.
Three thrilling movies comprise one of the finest
action-adventure series of all time.
With Raidersof the Lost Ark, director Steven Spielberg and writer/producer George Lucas set out to recreate the serial adventure film of the 1940s and forged a masterwork of action-adventure. The first movie is an embarrassment of riches, including what may the best opening 10 minutes in film history.
In fact, all three movies begin with thrilling chase sequences that are only tangentially related to the main stories. Last Crusade's opening, featuring River Phoenix ( Running On Empty) as the young Indie, answers questions raised in the first two movies: Why is Jones terrified of snakes? Why the fedora? How did he get the scar on his chin? We even learn Indie's real name!
The star throughout is Harrison Ford, archeology professor and grand adventurer. Ford seems perfectly at home as both the mild mannered Clark Kent type in glasses, and as the larger-than-life hero battling a half dozen thugs at once. Ford played a similar character in Star Wars , but here he is front and center and proves himself as one of the great action-adventure movie heroes.
Karen Allen is Indie's feisty sidekick in Raiders and Sean Connery is simply splendid as his dotty, somewhat overbearing father in the Last Crusade. But Temple of Doom clearly suffers from the lack of a likable foil for Jones. Parents should also note that Temple of Doom is the movie for which they invented the PG-13 rating, after so many children went too see it and had the bejesus scared out of them.
The two sequels are good, especially the more humorous Last Crusade, but the first is definitely cinematic gold.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
