This is a movie "made for TV". For those who do not live in an English-speaking country, what this phrase means specifically is that the movie was produced by an American television network for broadcast on American network television, which is supported by private-sector advertising. It was not made for release in movie theatres, and should not be seen as being of the same quality.
This means that the producers and filmmakers were restricted by various broadcasting codes, a mass-consumer orientation and a very limited budget, and they were under no particular pressure to create a movie that would actually attract moviegoers to spending money for a ticket at the theatre.
So this is a cheaply made Indiana-Jones romp that takes us from an imaginary library containing all the world's great books and artifacts to the Amazon jungle and Shangri-La in Tibet. A major role is played by pseudo-mysticism borrowing very loosely and without much accuracy from Christian, Mayan, Egyptian and Buddhist themes (or at least American pop television renditions of these themes). And of course there is a secret brotherhood (two actually -- one to protect the library, one to, um, conquer the world.)
None of it is logical or realistic or believable. The cheap special effects are fake-looking. The acting and writing is all ham and cheese. The dialogue is ridiculous and even camp at times. I believe the relationships are not even meant to be believable. It's not really a movie for thinking adults.
And yet I sort of enjoyed it. This movie is on the same creative level as Xena: Warrior Princess. Once you accept that it is brazenly stupid, anodyne, camp, unrealistic and essentially cartoonish, you can relax and just enjoy it for what it is. The movie equivalent of orange Kraft Cheese slices. Served on white Wonder Bread.
Strangely, the movie includes performances by a handful of very well-known television stars, including Kyle MacLachlan, Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin. This movie is way beneath them, but I suppose the television studio has some kind of arrangement that gets them to participate in this.
This means that the producers and filmmakers were restricted by various broadcasting codes, a mass-consumer orientation and a very limited budget, and they were under no particular pressure to create a movie that would actually attract moviegoers to spending money for a ticket at the theatre.
So this is a cheaply made Indiana-Jones romp that takes us from an imaginary library containing all the world's great books and artifacts to the Amazon jungle and Shangri-La in Tibet. A major role is played by pseudo-mysticism borrowing very loosely and without much accuracy from Christian, Mayan, Egyptian and Buddhist themes (or at least American pop television renditions of these themes). And of course there is a secret brotherhood (two actually -- one to protect the library, one to, um, conquer the world.)
None of it is logical or realistic or believable. The cheap special effects are fake-looking. The acting and writing is all ham and cheese. The dialogue is ridiculous and even camp at times. I believe the relationships are not even meant to be believable. It's not really a movie for thinking adults.
And yet I sort of enjoyed it. This movie is on the same creative level as Xena: Warrior Princess. Once you accept that it is brazenly stupid, anodyne, camp, unrealistic and essentially cartoonish, you can relax and just enjoy it for what it is. The movie equivalent of orange Kraft Cheese slices. Served on white Wonder Bread.
Strangely, the movie includes performances by a handful of very well-known television stars, including Kyle MacLachlan, Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin. This movie is way beneath them, but I suppose the television studio has some kind of arrangement that gets them to participate in this.