A 'Bad' movie that is fun to watch

Rating: 7/10 (27 October 2006)

Of all my 200-something reviews here, this proves the most difficult to write. How do you justify a film so overtly poor in all traditional aspects? Maybe you don't  maybe it is enough that I leave you with my titular summary and hope you will have as much fun as I did watching 'The Mummy Returns'.
Yet I could not to do this because it is a film that demands some evaluation. First, there are many many things wrong with this Mummy installment: its screenplay is a sketchbook mess with gaping plot holes, it suffers from the sequel-hubris of being 'big, bigger, epic', its one-liners are often wristslashingly cringeworthy, the villain characters are frighteningly flat, the animated pygmies some 2/3s into the movie are a joke, and on that note the CGI is so inexplicably bad that it may actually wound you to watch just five years later (it is bizarrely much worse than in the first Mummy film), and lastly there is an unbearably annoying young-Anakin-like boy  Rick and Evelyn's son  whom is given far too much importance in the story and far too much screen time in the film. In other words, 'The Mummy Returns' is camp of Batman and Robin-like proportions.
But my god, it is quite possibly the most well-executed and entertaining camp I have ever seen. Its predecessor 'The Mummy (1999)' proves a wonderful little Indiana Jones romp with a crisp freshness and beautiful settings. 'Returns' is equally sprawling with stunning ancient Egyptian locations and buildings but much of the novelty of the whole premise has regrettably worn off from the first film. It therefore goes to great lengths to compensate for its sequel-shortcomings by dishing out everything on a larger scale. This means kinetic, dynamic heartstopping action in all kinds of time eras with all kinds of scope. It is also, thanks to this no-nonsense approach, bathed in urgency which means no slow-paced moments to reflect on its quality.
The pinnacle of 'The Mummy Returns' success is its characters. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz undoubtedly have a remarkably comedic rapport that was fully showcased when the series kick-started, and is equally engrossing this time around. Although these two are the goldmine of the film, it offers plenty of goodies from the rest of its cast. Oded Fehr and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje are excellent and fun to watch in their respective parts, as is the triumvirate of goofy comedic-sidekick-ish badguys with their assigned quirks. It is constantly poised on the brink of silliness, but then, so is Pirates of the Caribbean and the mainstream audience is crazy about that series.
I strongly believed that this is a highly underrated film in terms of entertainment value and it is a shame Fraser wasn't showered with awards for his hilarious performance.
7 out of 10