I’m just a huge fan of the adventure/treasure hunt genre, which Indiana Jones pioneered for a whole new generation. Pulp stories from the 30’s and 40’s make me giddy, and while The Goonies was the first film I remember seeing that had a treasure hunt theme to it, Treasure Island and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland make me happy. Raiders, then, is well-crafted as a film, as both a thrilling piece of entertainment and as a story, and Temple is very much the same. While Temple is darker, Temple contains more themes of family and loyalty and taking care of others. Indy and Short Round’s relationship is both friendship and a pseudo father/son, and they genuinely love each other and take care of each other. The only downside to Temple is that it presents this fantastic relationship between the two, only to move further into Raiders and then it’s gone. And since Spielberg and Lucas have moved away from Temple, we’ve never seen Shorty since. And that’s a damn shame.
Published on May 24, 2014 15:32