dragonfire88's Full Review: Dk - Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
In the last few years, I have been picking up books connected to movies that I like. Many of those books were published by DK Books and connected to superheroes in some way, though I have some connected to other movies as well. I picked up Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide by James Luceno once it was released.
Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide shares information about all of the Indiana Jones movies as well as some of Indiana’s adventures not covered by the movies. Certain things shared in the book would be spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the movies yet. There was a bit of information about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I did read over those things and I didn’t think that anything too significant was shared, but I could be wrong since I haven’t seen the new movie yet. A couple of things that were mentioned did seem to support some of the speculation about one element of the movie. The book was published by DK Books and is an oversize hardback book like the other DK books that I own.
Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide started off with a forward written by Shia LaBeouf. He talked about seeing the first movies when he was younger and mentioned some things that he thinks made Indiana such a popular character. He also talked about being cast in the movie and working on it. The rest of the movie was divided into seven sections. The sections were seperated by pictures covering two pages that were connected to the subject of each section. There were also short paragraphs included that gave very short over views of the sections. Within each section, there were two page spreads that would cover specific topics. On the upper corner of the right page of each two page spread, the year or years being covered was indicated.
The first section, The World of Indiana Jones, shared some basic information about Indiana Jones, including the incident that caused his fear of snakes. The short section ended with a timeline of important events in his life that covered two pages. The Birth of an Archeologist shared information about Indiana’s childhood and the travels he went on with his parents. I believe some of those things were covered by the television show The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. During that time of his life, Indiana met many famous people like Lawrence of Arabia and Theodore Roosevelt. This section also covered what Indiana did during World War I and the few years immediately after the end of the war.
The next three sections focused in on the events of the first three movies. The first two pages of each section showed the different places that Indiana travelled to during each adventure. The different situations that Indiana ended up during the movies were featured as well as some of the different characters and important locations. There were some very elaborate and detailed illustrations of the locations like the temple of doom that pointed out where certain things from the movies took place. There really wasn’t a lot of in depth information about the plots of the movies, but there would be spoilers for people who haven’t seen them yet. A few times the text pointed out something a character had done that I had forgotten about.
The sixth section, Further Adventures shared information on some of the adventures that Indiana was involved in after the events of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I thought those pages were very interesting since I didn’t know anything about that part of Indiana’s life. The last several pages of the section shared information that was somehow connected to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A few characters who will turn up in the movie as well as some situations were covered.
Beyond the World covered the filming of all the movies and decisions that were made, like the casting of Harrison Ford as Indiana. It was explained how some of the special effects were created and different movie posters from around the world were shared. The last few pages talked about the toys, books, comic books, and video games. It was even mentioned how a Kermit the Frog figure was made in 2004 that clearly looked like Indiana even though Indiana Jones wasn’t mentioned on the package. Some of the new toys coming out in connection with the new movie were shown. The section ended with another timeline that shared important dates in the making of the movies, like when George Lucas first started to come up with the idea for the character and when the movies were released. It was also mentioned how Harrison Ford wasn’t bothered by all the snakes, bugs, rats, and other creatures that have turned up in the movies.
The information shared throughout Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide was arranged in a logical manner and it seemed to be in chronological order for the most part. The exception to that was in the first section when some of the general information about Indiana was shared and a few things from later in his life were included before the second section jumped back to start with his childhood. I thought all the information was very interesting and enjoyable to read about. There were things pointed out connected to the first three movies that I had forgotten about or just not picked up on as that important. There were a few times when Luceno repeated something that he had mentioned earlier, but it didn’t happen often enough to be annoying or irritating.
The information was shared in short paragraphs or as captions, so there wasn’t anything that in depth to any of the information that was shared. It would have been nice if there had been a bit more information shared about a few things. Scattered over all the pages were pictures that were somehow connected to the information being shared. Some of pictures looked like they were stills pulled from the different movies. There were also illustrations of certain places that I believe were drawn specifically for this book. There were also a few graphics that looked like they had been pulled from the comic books. The pictures and illustrations did add to the text, though I could have done without the pictures of the snakes, especially the big one that was served in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The picture of that snake dominated the two page spread and I actually had to cover it to read those pages without freaking out.
I really enjoyed Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide. The book shared a lot of interesting information about all the movies and even covered events that happened between the movies. I think the book makes a good companion for fans of the Indiana Jones movies.
Since the book did discuss the comic books that Indiana Jones has been in, the review fits for elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off.
Packed with a wealth of information from all four Indiana Jones films--from 1981 s Raiders of the Lost Ark to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cry...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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