A follow-up to the phenomenally successful adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark, this more violent prequel from Steven Spielberg, set prior to Raiders in 1935, actually had a new rating – PG-13 – created especially for its cinema release. Our fedora-wearing, whip-carrying hero Indiana Jones (Ford) finds, after a series of adventures that include being on a plane abandoned by its pilots, that he has ended up in India (with cabaret singer Willie and cute kid Short Round in tow), where desperate locals ask him to find a mystical stone that belongs to their village. The search for the stone leads him to a palace, with a cult, slave labour and lots of other nastiness (including creepy-crawlies) in the catacombs below.
Parents should note that this is more gruesome than the first film – especially a scene in which an unfortunate man has his heart ripped out and you then see it still pulsating in the hands of the bad guy – and darker too, which is perhaps why it is often the favourite of grown-ups!
There are jokes, of course (the opening scene in the nightclub is a hoot), terrific action sequences (the rope bridge, the mine cart chase) and a cute sidekick (Ke Huy Quan as Short Round) – in fact, the only thing that stops this movie being as good as the wonderful Raiders is a slightly hysterical performance from Kate Capshaw (now Mrs Steven Spielberg) as the over-dramatic Willie.
Is Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...
This is definitely not suitable for children who are frightened easily as there are quite a few perilous moments and scenes of torture. The scene mentioned above, in which a man’s heart is taken from his chest and still beats in Mola Ram’s hand, is very frightening.
Many of the scenes in the underground tunnels are scary. Children may be upset when Indy is captured, and seems to be possessed and he strikes Short Round. Willie is placed in a cage and lowered into a fiery pit. There are also scenes of the children enslaved underground.
If you like this, why not try: Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, The Mummy, The Goonies,