If you thought the first one was great, this one's not one step down the ladder

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 2001)

Okay, the story of "The Mummy" was stupid, and the story of "The Mummy returns" is no more than a lame excuse for another movie. But, thank God, the movie is completely aware of its silliness, and thanks to that (and therefore full credit to writer/director Stephen Sommers), the second part is exactly as great as the first one. The dialogue is still witty, self-ironic and very funny (sometimes even more so than the first time), tongue-in-cheek allusions to a whole bunch of other movies (from Titanic to Alien and back) will leave you howling for more, and except for a small step on the break in the middle (with 123 mins., the movie's a bit too long), it's rollercoaster par excellence. Bonus point: The sometimes crappy visual f/x of part one is first rate this time. All in all one of the rare occasions where a movie successfully makes fun of its own stupidity, and thus turns out to be exactly the ride you wanted it to be. Thumbs up!