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When I was a kid, my mom got me this series of books, after I begged, from Time Life called "Mysteries of the Universe." Go take a look at the titles. Skimmed over them? OK, it feels like the writer opened up those books and pointed and picked all the different conspiracies and mysteries they landed on and worked them into this movie. Crystal skulls, ESP, Area 51, those drawings in crops you can only see from above, obelisks, etc. It's all in there. Although, I guess I can't say much about it being too far out there -- we had the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and those glowing stones that saved crops or whatever in the others.

Now that that's said, I really liked it. I loved that they acknowledged that Indy is getting old and doesn't quite have it like he used to. I loved that they brought back Karen Allen and introduced Shia LeBeouf, who would be a fine person to inherit the series, if they wanted to go that way.

There were really only two moments when I called BS -- the first when "Mutt" was swinging through the jungle like Tarzan from vine to vine. That was a bit ridiculous. And that's saying something when you're talking about a movie that has giant ants and aliens. It mostly bugged me because it didn't fit in the established guidelines of the world they set up. We've seen in other movies that there might be mental powers and stones that glow and cups that heal, but nowhere has it been established that you can swing like a monkey on vines.I also called BS when Indy got blown up by a nuclear bomb. Surely he's going to die of cancer soon or something. At the very least, he should have been limping or had a broken bone after being launched across the desert in the flying refrigerator of doom.

I had heard speculation that Mutt was Indy's son, and it was confirmed for me in the first scene they meet when Mutt gets defensive about his name, telling Indy he picked it himself. I loved that he wasn't completely like Indy, though -- I thought the scene where he kept hitting Indy in the head with a snake was hilarious.

I wish there had been a little more build-up for Indy and Marion's romance, but you can't have everything. I would have also liked a bit of explanation on how Indy suddenly became associate dean or whatever, but again ...

In all, it was exactly what I wanted it to be, and had everything I was hoping for -- sly commentary on his age, throwbacks to the other movies (seeing the corner of the Ark in Area 51, mentioning his dad and the other guy who was his sidekick, etc.), and lots of action and great music and one-liners.

One thing, though? What was up with the ground hogs or prairie dogs or whatever they were in the beginning? Is this just a reference I'm not getting?