Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection DVD Box Set Review

Buy This DVD Box Set Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!

Title: Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection

Featuring: “Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark”, “Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom”, “Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade”

Region: One

Genre: Action Adventure Fantasy

Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone, Ke Huy Quan, Alison Doody, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, and Sean Connery

Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, and Jeffrey Boam

Based On “Screen Stories” By: George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Menno Meyjes

Director: Steven Spielberg

Feature lengths: 115 minutes/118 minutes/126 minutes

Extras: Introductions By Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for all three films, Indy’s Women Reminisce featurette, Indy’s Friends And Enemies Featurette, Storyboard Galleries, Photo Galleries, LEGO: Indiana Jones: The Adventures Game Demo, Creepy Crawlies Featurette, Discover Adventure On Location With Indy Featurette, The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation Featurette, The Mystery Of The Melting Face Featurette, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull Trailer

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English. French, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Slim Cases Within A Slipcase

Chapter Stops: 31/31/36 minutes

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1981/1984/1989/DVD Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG/PG/PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Approximately two weeks before the theatrical release of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Entertainment have re-released the original films on DVD with new extra value materials. The films are also being made available separately for the first time and of course within the three-disc box set Indiana Jones: The Adventures Collection, which has the three films individually packaged in thin cases within cardboard slip. Although each film includes new extra value features, everything that was included on bonus materials disc that originally came with the 2003 DVD box set is not available here so for super-fans of the movies, if you want everything available on DVD at the time of this writing, you should also hold on to the original DVD set or try and find it. Although all three films are THX certified, the THX Optimizer program for picture and sound calibration that was present on the original DVD releases are not present here. The three Indiana Jones films are movies that benefit greatly by having the option to see them in their original anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratios because they not only preserve the manner in which the films were exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home video users, but the framing of the visual compositions are truly meant to be seen in a widescreen format. Some films since the advent of home video are either matted for theatrical release or shot in such a way so that all of the important visual information is in one area of the screen, leaving the rest of the space looking as if one was viewing an incomplete painting. Another method of preparing of home video releases is to shoot alternate takes all together of certain scenes specifically for (1.33:1) home video viewing and television broadcasts. It is obvious that the Indiana Jones films span the 1980s to a point that by the time the third film was produced, the sell through VHS market was already considered a viable sales decision in addition to priced to rent features. Just look at the amount of big summer feature films from 1989 that were released in the fall of 1989 directly as sell through VHS tapes instead of just priced for rental. Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade were all three summer blockbusters that went directly to sell through VHS tape editions at the same time video stores received copies to rent and this trend would grow with each passing summer throughout the 1990s until the arrival and subsequent success of DVD sales surpassed sell through tapes.

However even in the case of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, the framing of the visual compositions are so stunning in widescreen that to watch it in any other manner is like seeing only half a movie. Films like the original Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey are the same way because back then no one was thinking about the framing with VHS in mind. So imagine how great it is to see the earlier classics of the generation before Lucas and Spielberg like Ben-Hur and Lawrence Of Arabia to name just two and I think almost anyone will agree that until they understood the whole nature of widescreen theatrical presentations that began with films like The Robe, through to the present that once you see a film on video in widescreen on DVD or high definition, you can’t go back again. This is especially true of all three Indiana Jones films, which for the 2003 DVD release went through a long process of digitally scanning the film images frame by frame searching for imperfections as well as clearing up sharpness flaws and stabilizing the quality of the images to remove dirt and scratches. It appears that these new discs use the same source materials, but upon comparing them, I found it hard to determine whether or not the 2003 discs look better than the 2008 discs. The 2003 discs seemed to have a darker look about them while the 2008 seemed brighter. The best looking of the three films in this new set in my opinion is Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Somehow the others don’t seem as sharp.

Have no fear because although the title on the box says Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the opening credits and the film’s original title Raider’s Of The Lost Ark remains unchanged as viewers are first introduced to Dr. Jones and his adventures searching for the lost Ark of the Covenant in an effort to keep it from falling into the hands of the Nazis. Interesting to note is in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the character of Marcus Brody (Denholm Eliot) is not at all the bumbling comic relief character he is portrayed as in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Indiana Jones And the Temple Of Doom takes place one year before the events in the first film and has Dr. Jones, and two companions searching for the lost Sankara Stones and discovering a sinister cult of Kali worshippers, who have enslaved children and sacrificed innocent people to their god. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade is not so much about Indiana Jones search for the Holy Grail, but his quest to reconcile with his estranged father played by Sean Connery. I looked at all three films closely and I just could not truly find an instance of grain or some other imperfection at all. The films have the same English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtracks as well as French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks are encoded onto all three-feature films on DVD. English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as well as English, French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options. The interactive menus are nicely rendered with animated transitions and full motion scene selections for all three films and all are easy to navigate.

Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark features a video introduction with Filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (7:48) where they discuss the inspiration and genesis of the Indiana Jones character and franchise. This is supported by the featurettes The Indy Trilogy: A Crystal Clear Appreciation (11:40), which features video interview clips with Filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Screenwriter David Koep, and Actors Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Cate Blanchet, and Shia LaBeouf and The Mystery Of The Melting Face featurette (8:48), which gives a detailed account into how that effect was achieved complete with an especially constructed recreation for the featurette. Storyboards for The Well Of Souls sequence with the storyboard on top as the finished scene from the film is presented here too. (4:16). All three of these discs included within the set feature a storyboard to completed scene sequence and every film in these new releases includes still galleries of illustrations and props, production photographs and portraits, effects by ILM, and marketing one sheet art, etc. All three films on DVD also include both a trailer for LEGO: Indiana Jones: The Adventures Game (1:19) along with a playable demo for PC DVD-ROM users to download and can also be reached directly by visiting the web address below:

http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Games/Pages/LEGOIndianaJonesOA-b.aspx

All three films on DVD also have the initial trailer in 16 by 9 widescreen for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (1:19). Exclusive to the Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom DVD is a video introduction by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas discussing the reasons why the film was made as a prequel adventure and was also the darkest of the first three films, following Lucas’ philosophy employed for the classic Star Wars Trilogy, where the middle film is intensifies the drama and takes the action to a level that the first and the third parts do not tread even though in the case of the Indiana Jones films, each installment is a separate adventure more or less like the James Bond movies and not direct sequels in the typical sense (5:59). There is a featurette discussing the Creepy Crawlies (11:54), where the various signature phobia inducing critters pose an obstacle for Dr. Jones and his companions to face like the snakes in the first film or the rats in the third film. I hate insects so for me, I would have a hard time being on the set with thousands of insects, especially since the majority of tem were never recovered by the time production was finished. They say water will find a crack or hole to drip or sink through if it exists. The same can be said about insects. If they can squeeze through or stowaway into or on something, they will do it so imagine the infestations that had to be dealt with after shooting the bug sequence in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom? The Discover Adventure On Location With Indy featurette (10:30) focuses not only on the locations where the films take place, but the actual sites where the movies were shot. The storyboard gallery for this film is the mine cart chase (2:31).

Finally for the Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade DVD, we have another introduction with Spielberg and Lucas talking about the development of the father and son relationship and chemistry between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery on the set as well as the fact that their actual real life ages are closer than one might think when watching the film (6:13). There is video footage from the tribute to Indy’s Women (9:23) held at the American Film Institute in 2003 before the original DVD set was released commercially complete with the surprise arrival of Harrison Ford who posed for photos wearing the signature Indiana Jones jacket and Fedora for members of the press present during the event. Next is a featurette focusing on the various allies and enemies Dr. Jones has faced in the series and how each has served an established archetypal or formula role established and followed throughout the entire series (10:46). Much like the Star Wars films, at times characters in one film will say the same thing in another, even the villains for example both Belloq and Elsa tell Indiana that “You would do the same thing” in their place, which serves to not only echo a theme that runs throughout the series regarding why the characters are searching for something, but also shows that in essence they are Indy’s doppelganger in their respective films.

Laurent Bouzerau directed the featurettes for these new discs. The opening sequence (3:40) serves as the storyboard gallery comparison for the DVD edition of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. Sadly none of the theatrical trailers for the films on these discs are included in these new releases whether or not they are purchased separately or within the DVD box set. Thus if you want everything available so far, it is still highly recommended to hold on to the original DVD set or buy it too. The disc packaging artwork for each film and the box set itself is very nice. Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection is available at retailers on and offline now from Lucasfilm and Paramount Home Entertainment.

Return To The Previous Page

Buy This DVD Box Set Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!