Indiana Jones and the Cauldron of Geritol

Did anybody else who saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" think the title character came across as somewhat cardboard?

I can't really decide whether it was a result of:
* Harrison Ford's performance;
* Some missing scenes that didn't make it into the final edit of the movie; or
* The way Indy was depicted in the film as a man in his 60s who was still jumping around in warehouse rafters and falling over huge waterfalls.

Maybe I'll go with the third possibility. Inasmuch as my parents thought William Shatner looked really stupid as a 50-something policeman chasing down 20-something crooks on foot in "T. J. Hooker," some of Indy's stunts seemed a little impossible for someone that gray.

Maybe the script for the new movie should have aged the character mentally and physically, showing us an Indiana Jones who was cagier, wiser and tougher than before, even if he'd lost some of his physical prowess. He didn't have to be bitter, hostile and mean like Bruce Wayne in Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns." We know a lot happened to Henry Jones Jr. in the interim, however, we don't see how it affected him.

Instead, we got essentially same character from some 15 years earlier, despite a plethora of untold adventures from World War II at which the film hints. He hasn't really grown as a person even after all sorts of experiences, theoretically both good and bad.

Also, throughout the movie, Indy was exerting himself physically the same way he did as a much younger man. Everyone has to give a nod to age eventually. Even Roger Clemens.

Not to go too overboard of the "Star Trek" cast comparisons, but "Star Trek II," showed the crew of the Enterprise years after the original series dealing with aging and mortality.

An older Indiana Jones would probably be doing the same thing. It might have helped the movie if we had seen it. With such a physical character, that could have meant a scene in which Indy had to face new limits on his athleticism and find a way to succeed despite them.

After all, the strongest fictional characters are the ones who overcome the biggest obstacles.