Of course, The Crystal Skull isn’t as nearly as exciting—or as significant of an artifact—as movies past, considering Indy was tracking down the Lost Ark of the Covenant and The Holy Grail in previous outings. But the journey is still thrill-a-minute escapist entertainment, thanks to scenes like a truly unbelievable (yet adrenaline-boosting) motorcycle chase through a university, encounters with hostile natives who look like extras from Apocalypto, mysterious, booby-trapped catacombs and an especially wince-inducing scene for bug haters as hundreds of creepy crawlies help distinguish the good guys from the bad. But hey, situations like that are all in a day’s work for Indiana Jones. And even though he’s old enough to be eligible for the senior citizen’s discount, he makes it all look incredibly easy.

While the needlessly complicated direction the script takes doesn’t shed any meaningful light or offer significant takeaway value and drags on a little too long by film’s end (some great character development might have been a nice substitute), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is still an enjoyable popcorn movie that admirably marks the return of an old-school hero. And as Indy’s protégé-in-training, LeBeouf proves there’s probably still plenty of life in Indiana Jones movies to keep the franchise going for many years to come.
 
CAUTIONS:

• Drugs/Alcohol:  Cigarette smoking.  Character holds beverage and appears drunk (with slurred speech) in one scene. 
• Language/Profanity:  A couple of crass expletives.
• Sex/Nudity:  There are a few references to Indy’s commitment-phobic love life, which includes countless flings and affairs.
• Violence:  There’s very little blood, but there’s a few disturbing moments that involve a group of ghoulish mummies, a swarm of bugs and Indy and Mutt reaching into carefully wrapped undead “corpses” to uncover clues for their mission. There’s also an atomic blast in the beginning of the film and some cartoonish fight scenes that are on par violence-wise with past Indiana Jones fare.