MPAA Rating: PG-13, for adventure violence and scary images
Genre: Action/Adventure
Age range: Ages 13 and up
Runtime: 120 minutes
Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: May 22, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Movie Trailer
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Official Synopsis
The newest Indiana Jones adventure begins in the desert Southwest in 1957 – the height of the Cold War. Indy and his sidekick Mac (Ray Winstone) have barely escaped a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield.
Now, Professor Jones has returned home to Marshall College – only to find things have gone from bad to worse. His close friend and dean of the college (Jim Broadbent) explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him. On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history – the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear.
But as Indy and Mutt set out for the most remote corners of Peru – a land of ancient tombs, forgotten explorers and a rumored city of gold – they quickly realize they are not alone in their search. The Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull. Chief among them is icy cold, devastatingly beautiful Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), whose elite military unit is scouring the globe for the eerie Crystal Skull, which they believe can help the Soviets dominate the world... if they can unlock its secrets.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Note to Parents
Have you ever had this experience before - you find a movie you loved as a kid and decide to watch it with your own kids, only to be shocked at some of the questionable content you had completely forgotten about? This situation happened to my husband and I with the movie <i>Home Alone</i> (which, as it turns out, contains a couple of words I really don't want my 5-year-old repeating), and I think it may happen to a few families with the Indiana Jones movies as well.
Many people think of the Indiana Jones movies as family fare despite the PG-13 rating of the third movie, Indiana Jones and Last Crusade. Raiders of the Lost Ark was released before the PG-13 rating was introduced, however, and Temple of Doom is partially responsible for the introduction of the PG-13 rating in 1984. Public outcry over the violence in Temple of Doom and other movies released around the same time motivated the MPAA to add the new rating so that parents would be better able to tell if a movie would suit younger viewers or not. So, if you are gearing up for the new movie by watching the original three, you may want to preview them before letting younger kids watch.
