Anybody like me who grew up in the 90s knew about the amazing game show on Nickelodeon called Legends of the Hidden Temple. To me, it's one of the greatest game shows to ever exist with some great obstacle courses, interesting stories, and the temple runs were always fun to watch.
Imagine the surprise of many though when it was revealed that this game show was coming back as a movie. To be honest, I was really skeptical on this because there was a question that I think many others asked; how do you turn a game show into a movie? Well, Nickelodeon found a way to do so, even going out of its way to getting Kirk Fogg and Dee Bradly Baker back to reprise their roles again. Considering as well that Nick's TV movies have often been hot garbage, it still made me feel nervous. But I was still willing to give it a shot at the end of the day.
Three siblings named Noah, Dudley, and Saddie get away from a temple tour and get a map to the temple from the guide, Kirk Fogg. After failing to get her brothers back, Saddie, Noah, and Dudley fall into the temple, and meet King Olmec. He tells the three siblings about how his son, Zuma, was supposed to inherit the kingdom from him, but another son of Olmec's, Thak, and his band of Temple Bandits attempted to take the Amulet of Life. With no other choice, Olmec imprisoned his people in stone to stop Thak, and now it's up to the three siblings to save Olmec and his people.
Admittedly, the story is a bit out there, but then again there never was a story to Legends of the Hidden Temple itself. For the most part, it's a pretty standard story about a power hungry person wanting to rule. The story is decent enough and it does give some general good background for the Temple itself.
Kirk Fogg and Dee Bradly Baker are just as awesome as they were all those years ago. Baker is still doing a solid job as Olmec. Kirk, while not doing much in the movie, still puts on a great performance overall and is overall having fun in this film.
The other actors are, surprisingly, not that bad for a Nick TV movie. Usually, Nickelodeon TV movies have actors that range from mediocre to awful. This movie actually had some good actors who didn't come off as annoying or look like they were trying too hard.
The characters themselves aren't bad either. None of them really came off as annoying or terrible at all. At first, they seemed to be rather flat characters, but they do have some general character development. All the characters are good in their own way and each do have a time to shine. For a Nick TV movie, that is an accomplishment.
While the characters are good, the same can't be said for some of the dialogue. While not awful, some of the dialogue can be a bit cheesy. One thing to the movie's credit though is that as it goes on, the writing does get better and the dialogue doesn't feel as bad.
The special effects are not very good either. I know this is a TV movie and the budget is going to be limited, but some of the effects like the Purple Parrot blowing up and the explosion at the temple gate just looked terrible. Granted though, some of it like the look of the Silver Snakes and the Green Monkey did look pretty good. It's nothing that ruins the film, but some of the effects could have honestly been better.
The Temple itself is really well put together and the scenery is great overall. It has pretty much all the rooms from the original game show like the Pit of Despair, the Treasure Room, the Quicksand Bog, and, of course, the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. The movie even pokes fun at how long it took people to put together the Silver Monkey. Anybody who watched the show always knew that the contestants took forever to put it together. When it said "Four hours later" and they still didn't have it together, I laughed at that.
It sadly only showed one treasure from the show, which was Galileo's Cannonball. I wish they could've shown more of the treasures, but at least the movie acknowledges the treasures the contestants would run for in the game show.
The action itself is pretty good for the most part. I do like how the siblings are able to overcome some of these problems like in the Pit of Despair. The puzzle solving and riddles are pretty well thought out too like in the Treasure Room. It's got a lot of good elements to it that make the movie pretty exciting overall.
While not perfect and having its own issues here and there, Legends of the Hidden Temple is a good movie overall. It not only has callbacks to the game show itself, but it stands on its own merits pretty well. While some of the effects are terrible, and it does have some problems with the script and the story does end up being somewhat predictable, it's nothing that hurts the movie overall.
I usually don't find Nick TV movies to be that good since most rely on tired formulas, but this movie manages to not only be nostalgic in a way, but a good movie overall. If this movie does do good enough, maybe we'll see the return of the game show itself. If it happens, hopefully Kirk and Dee Bradly Baker will return again.
If you're a Legends of the Hidden Temple fan like me, you owe it to yourself to check out this film and return to the temple again.
