The SAME is true with
Die Hard 2
which is actually the BEST of the
Die Hard
films.
“Call a SPADE, a SPADE; and a TRANNY, a TRANNY, or an IT!!!”.
"THAT'S SOME BAD
SHIT
,
HARRY
!".

It is something that people, who do not like the unknown, would not understand. You would have to go into it with an open mind. Indiana Jones was a Caucasian hero that triumphed significant Caucasian related obstacles. For instance Raiders was a HUGE thing that Americans would be familiar with. Was WWII not a huge part of Western history?
The only individuals I would think, who would like this movie, are probably the British and Indians (and that is if they do not take it as an insult, rather as a satire).
THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR. COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS HERE!!!

This message has been deleted.

Spielberg announced it was his least favourite of all the indy films except for meeting his wife. It was at this time, coincidentally, folk started saying it was the bad one. Before that we all loved it. I'm a big fan of Indy since I watched raiders at about 8 years old and I loved ToD and still do.

I do agree that people kind of convinced themselves that TOD is bad, probably because they read such statements on the internet and just go along the popular "belief".
My explanation is that in people's mind, the Indiana Jones franchise is basically "archeolgy, desert and nazis" films.
So, when they think about Temple of Doom, a dark story with a supernatural cult in India, it just doesn't match their expectations of the formula.
To me, this movie is close to perfection, and it doesn't matter what Indy movies "are suppoed to be" or that "it is different from the others".
It is exotic, well paced, full of action, scary and fun.
That's all I need.
I like the 2 others (I pretend KOTCS never happened), but this one is perfection.

Temple was the "bad" one until Kingdom came along. Crusade was, in a way, Steven Spielberg's apology for Temple.
Also, you're downplaying criticisms of Temple by claiming it's because it's "different". Tea with sugar is different from tea without sugar. Tea with sugar is also different from castor oil. Just saying "different" isn't really giving a lot of information.