BY GLENN WHIPP >FILM CRITIC

CLICK HERE FOR OUR INTERACTIVE SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW!

Bursting with all the trademarks of both the series (Snakes! Chases! Indieeeeeeee!) and its director (Aliens! Suburbia! Absent Fathers!), "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" finds Steven Spielberg returning to his most famous franchise and delivering something of a greatest hits album wrapped up in a shiny CGI bow.

The computer-generated effects are primarily what differentiates this "Indy" from its predecessors, with Uncle Stevie using every tool in his arsenal to make this chapter the greatest B-movie in motion picture history. And, after its whiz-bang opening salvo, you'll be ready to bestow that title on "Crystal Skull," though the movie ultimately falls a bit short in this particular quest for glory.

The film's missed opportunities are self-imposed limitations present in all the "Indy" romps. Action-adventure set pieces have always taken precedence over story here, and the characters are archetypes along for the amusement park ride.

When that ride is operated by a filmmaker as gifted as Spielberg, you grab onto the handrails and surrender yourself to the thrills. As long as he balances the action's inherent absurdity with a lighthearted spirit ("Temple of Doom" failed miserably on this count), you can forgive any story shortcomings and the occasional serving of cheese, which here comes early on via some Ewok-cute, chattering groundhogs. (Thanks, George Lucas.)

Though there must be a good dozen allusions to Indy'sage ("what are you, like, 80?"), the most immediate effect of the 19-year gap between "Crystal Skull" and "The Last Crusade" comes from putting Mr. Jones in 1957. The movie opens in the New Mexico desert and moves to the military installation we last saw at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The Nazis have been replaced by Commies, and the Feds, in full Red Scare mode, suspect that Indy might have cast his lot with the Ruskies.

Indy's nemesis is Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), a Soviet military something-or-other largely distinguished by her Natasha Fatale accent ("I vant to know!"), her penchant for always wearing the same unflattering overalls, her bob haircut and lethal skill wielding a rapier. As mentioned, Irina "vants knowledge," which leads her to pursuing the crystal skull, an artifact that may have been left behind by E.T.'s great-great grandpa and could be the key to winning the Cold War.

Essentially, the movie has Jones and friends both old (Karen Allen reprises her role as Marion Ravenwood) and new (Shia LaBeouf is introduced as something of a Brando "Wild One" poser who could become Indy's successor) battling Spalko and her Red Menace halfway across the globe for bragging rights to the crystal skull. The set pieces are superb, whether realized through rubber-burning stunts or CGI that taps into the era's atomic anxieties.

Yes, it would have been nice if we knew a little something about what makes Spalko tick and you keep waiting for the inevitable confrontation between her and Indy, one that remarkably never arrives. We do get some forced banter between Indy and Marion, but then, their exchanges were never the stuff of Bogie and Bacall, were they?

Which brings us to Harrison Ford, who, from the moment he picks up Indy's fedora in his opening scene, looks like The Prodigal Son returning from the lost years spent making "Hollywood Homicide" and "Random Hearts." Gone are the traces of sourness that have characterized his work of late, replaced by an energized spirit and laconic wryness that play to his strengths as a movie star.

Ford, like Spielberg, is completely in his comfort zone here. That means no risks, but in the case of "The Crystal Skull," that kind of safety can still yield plenty of old-fashioned fun.

Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672. glenn.whipp@dailynews.com

CLICK HERE FOR OUR INTERACTIVE SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW!

review>

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

>PG-13: adventure violence, scary images

>Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen.

>Director: Steven Spielberg.

>Running time: 2 hr. 3 min.

>Playing: Area wide.

>In a nutshell: Steven Spielberg brings Indy into the Atomic Age with results that will satisfy fans and maybe even convert a nonbeliever or two.