History YMMV / IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: By 2022, even those that found Short Round an EthnicScrappy TagalongKid view him more fondly, with the actor Creator/JonathanKeQuan's lauded showing in ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' leading to an increasingly large portion of the audience wanting him to return to the franchise.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Yes, Willie screams and complains a lot, but when you look at it objectively, she reacts EXACTLY the same way we ALL would under the circumstances: she is terrified out of her mind and rightfully so. The only reason Short Round isn’t the same is because this isn’t his first rodeo with Indiana Jones and he clearly considers Indy a father figure, and Indy is brave in the face of absolute terror because…well…he’s Indiana Jones for a reason folks.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Yes, Willie screams and complains a lot, but when you look at it objectively, she reacts EXACTLY the same way we ALL would under the circumstances: she is terrified out of her mind and rightfully so. The only reason Short Round isn’t the same is because this isn’t his first rodeo with Indiana Jones and he clearly considers Indy a fa to era figure, and Indy is brave in the face of absolute terror because…well…he’s Indiana Jones for a reason folks.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Short Round gets a lot of hate for his tendency [[NoIndoorVoice to shout most of his lines]], although there are a number of fans who like him for being a competent KidSidekick, and for [[LikeASonToMe how his relationship with Indy brings out the latter's paternal side]]. There's also some understandable debate over whether or not Short Round is a funny character who happens to be a plucky Asian kid or if he's just [[EthnicScrappy a walking racist joke]]. He's by no means a useless character, and has some of the funniest lines, but he has a tendency to shout most of those lines in broken English, all with an exaggerated fake Chinese accent.

* CriticalDissonance: It gets enough flack that its Website/RottenTomatoes score of '''84%''' might surprise some people.

* CriticalDissonance: It gets enough flack that its Website/RottenTomatoes score of '''85%''' might surprise some people.

* VindicatedByHistory: ''The Temple of Doom'' was widely regarded as the weakest of the ''Indiana Jones'' movies, with much of the criticism being its lack of connection to [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk its predecessor]] and a much darker and cynical story and tone. As time went on, no part thanks to the [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull highly controversial fourth film]], it's not uncommon to find more people who love the film for those same reasons and appreciate the change in status quo and not doing a rehash of ''Raiders''. Nowadays, it's seen as on par with the first and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade third]] movies, sometimes even better than the other two.

* TheWoobie: All of the kids enslaved and forced to work in the mines. Particularly the one we see get whipped repeatedly

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The big slave driver guy gets what's meant as an AlasPoorVillain moment, as he gets part of his sash caught in a rock crusher and starts screaming in terror as Indy tries in vain to pull him out, only for him to get crushed anyway. Considering he helped enslave a bunch of kids, and is even seen viciously whipping one in his first appearance, it's pretty hard not to just cheer as he dies screaming.

** Pretty much ''everything'' to do with India or Hinduism, for that matter.

** On a related note, some Indian viewers and a few others listened to Mola Ram's big speech about using the Sankara Stones power to get rid of the English and think that it's a solid plan they can get behind. Since the actor Amrish Puri is popular in Indian cinema as a really cool villain actor, they root for him by default.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: the child Maharaja. The combination of her, sorry, his, outfit being feminine coded by Western audiences and his being dubbed by Creator/KatieLeigh who gave him a very child princess type voice means you feel very sorry for actor Raj Singh.

* CriticalDissonance: It gets enough flack that its Rotten Tomatoes score of '''85%''' might surprise some people.
* CriticalResearchFailure: The film's portrayal of India and Hinduism is either shockingly racist (as in 1920s era racist) or laughably ridiculous, and hopelessly misinformed all the same.
** The general idea of a Thuggee cult that sacrificed victims existing in the 1930s - the Thuggees had their reputation exaggerated out of all proportion and whatever gangs existed pretty much fell apart in the late 19th century. Indiana Jones would have been more likely to run into honest-to-goodness Communists than Thuggees in 1930s India.
** Shiva and Kali are not Good and Evil - in several branches of Hinduism, particularly in West Bengal, Kali is Shiva's wife and no matter where in India, Kali is an entirely benevolent deity no matter how terrifying she may appear. There's an entirely different male demon with a similar-sounding name (who is indeed supposed to be the living embodiment of vice), but he has ''nothing'' to do with the goddess Kali.
** Monkeys may be a nuisance and nowhere near as sacred as cows (the trope SacredCow exists for a reason) but they're nevertheless considered representatives of the God Hanuman and ''nobody'' in India would ever think of eating monkey brains. An Indian maharajah would either be entirely vegetarian or stick to non-taboo meats like chicken, fish and mutton (the novelization, at least, notes this and [[HandWave chalks it up to the Thuggee's brainwashing]]).

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Indy panicking over crashing a plane briefly stopped being amusing when Creator/HarrisonFord got injured in a plane crash in 2015. Although, as [[GallowsHumor a darkly comical moment]], when Ford recalled the crash on ''Series/TheLateShow'', he said "I didn't crash, the [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] plane crashed!", echoing Indy's line "We weren't brought here, our plane... crashed."

* ContestedSequel: Was it an interesting variation on the plot of ''Raiders'', or was it [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy too dark and gory to enjoy]]? It is generally seen as the weakest of the original trilogy, but reception of this movie warmed a bit among the fandom after the release of the even more divisive ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' who appreciate its weirdness and its attempt to be different from the first film and that it has many a SignatureScene for the franchise. Others however point out that the film is too hampered by its ridiculously inaccurate depiction of Indian culture and its indulgence of MightyWhitey tropes to truly rise to any level of greatness. The presence of Willie and Short Round versus a returning Marion Ravenwood and Mutt Williams doesn't help things, either.

* JerkassWoobie: Willie. Yes she may be an obnoxious [[SpoiledBrat spoiled]] RichBitch, but look at it from her point of view: she goes from a safe and comfortable life to an utterly terrifying ordeal, including almost being sacrificed. It's hard not to feel at least a bit bad for her, to say nothing of the fact that she will [[FridgeHorror probably have PTSD for the rest of her life.]]

* DamselScrappy: [[TheScrappy Willie Scott]]. After a boisterous HardDrinkingPartyGirl like [[ActionGirl Marion]], it's hard for some fans to accept that not every woman's cut out for the adventure shtick. Even her useful moments (punching a mook strangling Indy, stepping on Mola Ram's hands as he tried to climb pasted them) aren't enough to be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. [[IntendedAudienceReaction But Spielberg and Lucas wanted Willie to be completely different from Marion]], to the point that Kate Capshaw was asked to dye her brown hair blond, so this was always the intention.

* AmericansHateTingle: Even though the movie was a box-office smash, the government of India were not pleased with the negative depictions of their country, and their national censors temporarily banned it from being shown in India.
** The Indian government found the script so offensive, with absolutely ridiculous [[ForeignQueasine baby snakes, eyeball soup, beetles, and chilled monkey brains]] being served at the banquet, and Kali being misrepresented as a goddess of the underworld instead of a goddess of change and empowerment; the government denied filmmakers permission to shoot in India, with Sri Lanka being used as an alternative for the scenes that took place in India, which only made things worse with its {{Orientalism}}.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The opening Busby Berkeley-esque dance number, which is weird in itself, but certain elements of the number ramp this up even further -- for instance, the huge sound-stage the dancers disappear into, which is apparently somewhere ''inside'' the club, the fact that they can all apparently rise back into a standing position from a grounded scissor-split, and when Willie somehow turns several red hankerchiefs plucked from the dancers' lapels into a huge red sheet (well, she does mention her grandfather was a magician...). All in all, very strange indeed.

** Monkeys may be a nuisance and nowhere near as sacred as cows (the trope SacredCow exists for a reason) but they're nevertheless considered representatives of the God Hanuman and ''nobody'' in India would ever think of eating monkey brains. An Indian maharajah would either be entirely vegetarian or stick to non-taboo meats like chicken, fish and mutton.

** "Willie... WE. ARE GOING. TO '''DIE!'''", assuming it wasn't ''meant'' to be hilarious.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Producing this film was very hard for Creator/GeorgeLucas and Creator/StevenSpielberg, [[CreatorBreakdown as Lucas was going through a painful divorce and Spielberg had a breakup with Amy Irving]]. But Spielberg would find love again with Creator/KateCapshaw, who he'd marry several years afterwards. He would say that meeting her was the best part of making this movie.

* {{Squick}}: The infamous dinner sequence. Complete with servings of snakes filled with eels, eyeball soup, beetles, and chilled monkey brains for dessert. The chamber full of bugs also qualifies.

** [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "WE! ARE GOING! TO]] '''''[[MemeticMutation DIE!]]''''' :(" was a popular meme on Website/{{YTMND}}.

* AlasPoorScrappy: Willie briefly has a near-moment, where she's almost sacrificed in a horrific way, by a brainwashed Indy no less. Unfortunately, after surviving it, she goes right back into DamselScrappy mode, and the audience's pity disappears.