Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? NO. Are we there yet NO!

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2001)

There is an actual science to the right way to make a sequel. The two best examples would be "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Superman II"
I would say "The Godfather II" but that film is half prequel. When a sequel is made, it is imperitive to not put on a rehash of the original. It must be bigger and larger. It must have better effects and it must break new ground in the story as for as character development and plot movement. This film seems to accomplish most of these standard requirements.

Well it's eight years later. Rick and Evie are still creeping around in those forbidden tombs, and now they share these misadventures with their prodigenic son Alex. Their exploits take them further beyond the city of the dead into many different locations, and as fate would have it ,they are not out of harms way. Within the first ten minutes they are ambushed by grave-robbing thugs and knee-deep in booby traps. If this sounds like the same thing over again, it's true, just with a whole lot more. In addition to thugs, the undead, scarubs and Prince Im-Ho-Tep himself, Rick, Eve and little Alex must also deal with a new Egyption armata lead by the deadly swordsman Lock-Na, the skitish and grusome little pygmys and the army of Anubis led by The Scorpin King, played by WWF sensation "The Rock". Again ,the crack staff at Industrial Light and Magic do what they do best ,generating the Army of Anubis and just about everything else in this film that doesn't have lines. One of my personal favorite scenes has a pygmy pay tribute to Dr. Strangelove. Score one for the sequel.
The whole cast is back. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Oded Fehr, Arnold Vosloo and Patricia Velazquez. Score two
"The Mummy Returns" is even more crammed with action sequences then the original, unfortunatly it means that there is a little less time for comic relief and romance. The pacing is much faster and not for the sunday driver. Half a point score there.
The locations are not limited to just one area. The group of adventures span a good chunk of Eygpt that include the oasis of the golden pyrimid. The broader scope sets up the stage for the climactic battle between the Army of Anubis and Magi. Big score here
There is not very much character development here. One of the adventages of a sequel is that all the importent characters have already been established. The draw-back in this film is that there is no exposition for subbordinte characters. The currator, the female archeologist, the Red-vailed army, the three thugs, Rick's pilot friend and even Ardeth Bay's messenger bird get not exposition. The Scorpion King gets all the exposition that he needs, but that's all he gets. I'm sure that WWF fans are non too happy with The Rock only getting ten minutes of air-time in the beginning and five minutes in the end. What is worse is that his closing scenes are of a poorly made CGI version of him as a half scorpion monster villan. The film doesn't even explain why or how he turned into the beast that he is. It would have been a better move to keep him at his wrestler body for the final fight. Minus two points here.
The characters of Rick and Evie have their characters given more exploration, with a couple of prophacies. This approch seems to work for Evie but not so much for Rick. Restore one point.
As metioned before ,the climax of this film involves a maylay between The Army of Anubis vs. Ardeth Bay's boys in black. It is awesome. The end also includes the much anticipated three-way fight to the finish between Rick ,Im-Ho-Tep and The Scorpion King. This fight is a bit of a let down, because it's not what it promised to be. One out of a possible two points.
The other fight scenes in the film are good, like the Princess duel and the duel between Ardeth and Lock-Na and the prelude fight of Rick vs. Im-Ho-Tep is better then the original.
To sum up, in spite of all it's flaws ,this film is a good sequel and a good summer/popcorn pleaser. As for the WWF fans, you'll be able to smell what The Rock is cookin when repraises his role in the prequel.