[merylsilverburg]

As a celebration, my family and I went to see this on Monday and I have to say I didn't really like it. It doesn't have the feeling of the older Indy films, the story/plot was very sparse to the point where they had almost no other material to work with, the humor was forced, and the action was just too much.

I think I agree with Psychopu. The film was alright when Indy and Mutt were exploring that tomb (it had that slightly classic Indy exploring/discovery moment) but when everyone else started joining in, it became ridiculous. The motorcyle-chase scene was way too long...I don't understand what Spielberg/Lucas were thinking. I know people nowadays have ADD but that doesn't mean that nonstop action isn't going to get boring eventually.

The humor was awful and forced, like the bantering between Indy and Marion. The relationship between the two onscreen was very awkward and although they attempted to have that "chemistry," it just came off wrong. Some of the things that Marion says to Mutt wasn't cute either like when she was directing Mutt on his fencing techniques when fighting Spalko. And no, this isn't because I'm not a parent therefore I wouldn't understand the whole "odd parent-child bonding" thing. It just wasn't funny. The singular best scene was the quicksand scene. This was actually a geniunely hilarious moment...Ford's expression is priceless, the use of the snake-rope was genius, and well, it was very good.

The plot with the Crystal Skulls was okay because I've heard of these skulls before and their association with aliens so I have no problems with it. The only things I don't like was how there was almost nothing else tied to these skulls. No other creative ideas or effort than what could be, and were, shown on the Discovery, National Geographic, or History channel.

Overall, not good for me. My parent's liked it though but I suspect they like it simply because "it's Indy." Boy, I'll never get tired of sheep mentality.