LEGO® Indiana Jones Jungle Cutter

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Jungle-based adventure set with cool moving parts The Bad: Smaller and simpler than some Lego sets In a Nutshell: This action-packed building set jump-starts imaginative play At a Glance Ages: 7 to 14

Blades turn when you roll the Jungle Cutter. View larger.

Indy has a secret hideout. View Larger.

Take Indy's Adventures into Your Own Hands
Based on the film, which pits Indiana Jones against agents of the Soviet Union in the search for a crystal skull artifact, this set provides a narrative to inspire imaginative play. In addition to the mighty Jungle Cutter with its two gigantic, spinning blades, this set includes a make-shift hideout camouflaged by vines, trees that really break apart when the cutter plows through them, and plenty of jungle spiders. The detailed Indiana Jones figure comes complete with hat, whip, and bag, while Colonel Dovchenko and two Russian Guard mini-figures provide a threatening enemy presence.

Plus there's plenty of cool features to keep the set interesting. Just when it seems like Indy is doomed, you can push the lever on the back of the Jungle Cutter to pop the top pieces off and make it seem like Indy's rocket has caused a catastrophic explosion. Or turn the gear on the hideout to raise and lower the spider web.

Creating the Jungle Cutter
With eight bags containing 511 pieces and a colorful instruction booklet, the Jungle Cutter took our eight-year-old tester about three hours to construct. The process was challenging but not too difficult, with colorful step-by-step illustrations showing the way.

Overall, this set scores a fantastic rating for it's cool design elements. The fact that the blades on the Jungle Cutter turn as you roll the vehicle forward made it a huge hit. Another favorite feature was the sliding door that opens to reveal treasure stashed in a secret hiding place. And the battle between Indy and the Russians is fun to enact in different ways (all of which seem to end with a rocket blowing apart the Jungle Cutter).

Our tester really enjoyed the way the narrative of this set allowed him to construct follow-up scenes based on another set built around Indy's complicated escape from the Russians. As a nice bonus, these storylines are developed enough to make the sets fun whether your child has seen the new Indiana Jones movie or not. We also appreciate the way that Lego systems never limit imaginative play. All the cool hardware that makes up the Jungle Cutter can be used to build any structure or vehicle your child dreams up.

What's in the Box
511 Lego pieces and an instruction booklet.