Nearly as good as the original

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2005)

The Mummy Returns is the kind of movie where you can tell the actors from the first film really enjoyed that adventure to the point that they were willing to sign on immediately for this outing (which is nearly as good as the original film). While Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, and Oded Fehr do just as great as they did in the first film, they cannot match a superior performance by Rachel Weisz, whose character has really grown up in the 10 years since the original (she is now strong-willed and action packed, unlike her nervous youthful character in the first film). And while I miss Jerry Goldsmith's score from The Mummy, Alan Silvestri is definitely up for the task and produces just as good of a score. The only unmemorable parts include some cheesy CGI visual effects (look out for the palm trees at the end of the film as they swirl around the pyramid) as well as The Rock (another cheesy CGI construction). 7 out of 10.