Lame

Rating: 5/10 (19 May 2001)

Two of the best elements of the original Mummy were great effects and a bad ass monster. I loved the Mummy in the original. He was tough, mean, quick, had plenty of cool tricks up his sleeve, and most importantly: he was damn menacing. The Mummy returns in the sequel but is considerably tamer. The action sequences involving him are considerably lamer, and the effects much poorer in both quality and originality.
The opening intro telling the tale of the Scorpion King is the only time this movie really shines in both terms of interest and CGI effects. The rest of the movie's plot and special effects seem to have been just slapped together as fast and haphazardly as possible.
The plot is considerably lamer than the original (not to mention much more incoherent and with even greater continuity problems). The curator of Evie's museum along with a bunch of not too interesting henchmen are digging up the Mummy to fight the Scorpion King to gain control of the army of Annubis. Once they have control they are going to (get ready for the shocker) *gasp* try to take over the world.
There is some ridiculous subplot about the Evie being the direct descendant (identical twin no less) of the murdered Pharaoh's daughter. She starts having visions that provide information to plod the ridiculous plot along. Imoteph's (the Mummy) girlfriend has been reincarnated. How/Why is never explained. The viewer is supposed to accept this on blind faith. Another ridiculous new element is suddenly Frasier has a holy stamp on his hand that makes him a chosen warrior of God....where were these elements in the first movie?
Rick and Evie are now the perfect (and excessively boring) nuclear family with a young kid who I think is supposed to be Anakin Skywalker. The dialogue gets a 10 on the cheese scale. All the good guys are completely uninteresting. The bad guys aren't menacing in the least. The effects are lackluster best, and the incoherent plot has holes big enough to drive a Buick through.
The final showdown sported the worst effects of the whole movie. The Scorpion King was pretty lame and looked like something you'd see on a Playstation.
FINAL RATING: 5/10 A generally mediocre presentation of what could have been a good sequel. Somewhat entertaining but doesn't hold a candle to the original.