Revisionistic success on a moth-eaten classic

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2003)

THE MUMMY (1999) ***1/2 Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O'Connor, Arnold Vosloo, Jonathan Hyde, Oded Fehr, Omid Djalili. Fabulous special effects laden remake of the classic horror flick with a 90's tongue-through-cheek twist. Fraser makes an appealingly tough yet goofy hero as an adventurer (sort of Indiana Jones lite) who teams up with a hottie British Egyptian interpreter/museum clerk (Weisz in a plucky turn) and her boozing brother (Hannah in a dry, comic go) in search for a long buried city of the dead that instead unleashes 3,500 year old cursed spirit of Imhotep (Vosloo) whose vengeance must be satisfied! The visuals and plenty of good natured humor mixed with some at-times eerily effective scary jolts makes for a giddy, guilty pleasure. And watch out for those nasty, flesh-eating scarabs(!) HANG ON!