Mindlessly entertaining...

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2001)

Here we have one of those rare sequels that is every bit as good
as the original. Of course, I'm not saying the original was any good
to begin with. Actually, I'm not even sure they didn't just basically
recut the same old movie and tag one or two new characters and
then release it under this new title!
In any event, I took my 7 year old boy to see the movie and he had
a ball. Come to think of it, I was pretty well entertained also. Plot
details are too silly (and inconsequential) to get into. Suffice to say,
the title character (the sullen Imhotep) is somehow resurrected
and, by some contrivance, once again must face the meddling of
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz (now married with a tow headed
Junior Egyptologist as their son) and the bumbling brother-in-law
John Hannah. Mysterious native good-guy Ardeth Bey is also back
as are the usual Indiana Jones inspired assortment of swarthy
power (or money) hungry villains.
The new twist involves the legendary character of the Scorpion
King (WWF's The Rock in his well suited -- and undemanding --
debut performance) whose legend is laid out in a tidy opening
sequence set some 5000 years in the past. Suffice to say, the
forces of both good and evil are concerned with the Scorpion
King's resurrection and the ancient prophesy that would release
the evil Egyptian God Anubis' army of the undead upon the
unsuspecting world. Do I have to keep it a secret as to who
prevails?
The movie is charged with energy and the action doesn't let up
long enough for anyone to groan over the scripts numerous
attempts at machismo-levity in the face of great peril (a hallmark of
Fraser's). In the end, the movie, like its predecessor, strives to be
an Indiana Jones episode. And, as with its predecessor, it comes
off as a 2nd rate imitation. It just tries too hard and the strain bogs
the film down. What's most surprising about this movie is how
disappointing the special effects turn out to be. The seams really
show during several crucial sequences. Most egregious of all is
the CGI figure of the resurrected Scorpion King as a half man/half
scorpion creature. What is supposed to look like The Rock's head
and upper torso, looks like one of the human characters from Toy
Story. Those Ray Harryhausen stop motion creatures from the
Sinbad movies would have been more effective.
I would recommend The Mummy Returns for everyone who enjoyed the first movie. It's not a bad family fright movie either.
While the action may be intense for the smallest movie-age
kiddies, the violence is quite bloodless. Most harrowing for
youngsters might be the scene where the decomposed Imhotep
"sucks" the skin off of three victims (who kind of deserved it
anyway, in the morality of the narrative) in order to reconstitute his
own flesh. It sounds worse than it actually appears on film, believe
it or not. Actually, so does this movie.