MPAA Rating: PG-13, for adventure violence and scary images
Genre: Action/Adventure
Age range: Ages 12 and up
Runtime: 120 minutes
Starring: Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 22, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Summary
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has aged a little, and the time period is now the 1950's. The Nazis are gone, but we soon find out who his new enemy is - a Russian woman named Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett). She is after something, and it doesn't take Indy too long to figure out what.
The answer finds him when a motorcyle-riding, school-ditching young guy who goes by Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) tracks him down and asks for his help. Mutt's mother has been kidnapped, and she is down in Peru where she has gotten mixed up in the search for the mysterious Crystal Skull of Akator. Legend has it that the skull will be the key to unimaginable knowledge for whoever returns it to its rightful spot, which is of course in a city of gold.
Professor Jones and Mutt head for Peru, where they soon have the unfortunate experience of running into Irina and her agents. Irina will stop at nothing to retrieve the skull and use its power to dominate the world. Can Indy get to the city of gold before she does?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Guide Review for Parents
The new Indiana Jones movie may have come 19 years later, but it is very similar to those in the original series. If you have seen Temple of Doom or The Last Crusade, you will know about what to expect as far as content in determining whether or not the movie will be appropriate for your kids.
In typical Indiana fashion, Jones and his cohorts get into quite a few perilous situations which may be very frightening to young children. The requisite tomb scenes are present with skeletons, mummies, and everything that goes with them. Perhaps the most scary situation for kids, though, is one that involves huge human-eating ants. One man is shown being sort of devoured by the ants as they pour all over his body and into his screaming mouth while carrying him to their ant hill (no blood or gore is shown). There is also a scene with aliens - yes, that's right, aliens - that could frighten kids.
Irina and her agents wield all kinds of dangerous weapons, and several gun fights, sword fights, bloody fist fights, and dangerous vehicle chases occur. Irina and her agents shoot some people point blank and their dead bodies are shown. While there is a considerable amount of violence, blood and gore are minimal.
The movie contains some language (S.O.B. and the "S" word for example). Also, a couple of scenes portray people smoking cigars and drinking.
*For more detailed examples of possibly offensive content, please see "Content Overview" below.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Content Overview
The following lists a few of the most prominent examples of possibly offensive content in the movie (may contain spoilers):Violence (High)
- Irina's agents shoot US soldiers at an army base. They also shoot at Indiana and his friends. Both sides use weapons including machine guns, swords, and knives. Some men are burned by fire from a jet engine. Poison darts and spears are also shown in the movie.
- A nuclear bomb explodes, destroys a fake town, and the resulting mushroom cloud is seen.
- A woman's eyes begin to burn and she catches on fire and disappears.
Sex/Nudity (Low)
- Indy is shown bare from the waist up as he is being scrubbed down after the explosion.
- A man and a woman kiss briefly.
Profanity (Medium)
- In the movie the following words/phrases are used: the "S" word, S.O.B., damn, hell, and various phrases using the word God.
Photo © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Alcohol/Drugs (Medium)
- A man is shown smoking cigars.
- People are shown with wine.
Bad/Disrespectful Behavior (High)
- Irina wants to get the skull so that she can dominate the world and force everyone to think her way.
- Mutt talks about not wanting to go to school. He drives a motorcycle, acts like a rebel, and always has a knife which he sometimes tosses around.
- Mac is obsessed with money and double crosses Indiana.
Scary Scenes (High)
- Indiana and Mutt are chased by Irina's agents. They also go to a burial area where they encounter dead bodies, mummies, scorpions and scary tribal people who blow poisonous darts at them.
- Indy and Mutt visit a sanitarium where they hear about a friend who had gone crazy and see strange writing all over his cell wall.
- Several physically perilous situations occur involving car chases, waterfalls, natives, snakes, quicksand and the like.
- See also scenes listed under violence.
Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Low)
- A man finds out he has a son he never knew about.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Discuss the Movie
- After watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, children may have questions about the following topics: aliens, The Cold War, "commies", lost cities, snakes, gigantic ants, a woman not telling the father about his son, dropping out of school, supernatural powers.
