better than i hoped

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2001)

it often seems sequels are doomed to mediocrity. this however was not the case of the mummy returns.
the plot did a very good job weaving together the protagonists and balanced the introduction of the son. while periodically a bit contrived and predictable, there are precious few moments in movies today that are not.
while the character of imhotep, once again, only periodically reached three dimensions, what i found very confusing was the presence of the rock as the scorpion king. the producers could easily have found some musclebound struggling actor and given him that role as well. i don't know what the arrangement was, but his presence added nothing.
the CG effects, while good, were perhaps distributed with too generous a hand, especially the scorpion king encounter at the film's climax. but that's an issue i have with the director, not the script.