Product: The Mummy Returns [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 4.0
Okay, but "The Mummy" was much better
The original "The Mummy" had scary moments, a great story line, enough humor to keep the tension level manageable, and plenty of action. All combined to make "The Mummy" thoroughly enjoyable. Of course, one incredibly successful movie begets a sequel; thus we have "The Mummy Returns".This time we figure out how to tie together Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell (Rachel Weisz) and Anck Su Namun (Patricia Velazquez). They knew each other! Of course! How could we have not known? This relationship is used to tie together the parts of the story to the end, though it felt a touch contrived in places.The beginning of the movie starts off with some of the best action in the movie, as the Scorpion King's amulet is found, Imhotep is brought back to life and there is a goodly amount of chasing around and fighting as various characters are introduced. However, from this point forward the movie seems to lose its way. While the general concept of needing to be at the Scorpion King's oasis to gain his power is pretty straight forward, some of the journey to get there is a bit of a stretch, falling almost into comedy rather than a serious movie. The best example is the balloon used to travel to Africa. I admit I liked the balloon. However, this balloon just didn't seem to fit with the tenor and quality of the original, and I was a bit disappointed.There were other places where I was a bit disappointed with the movie as well, but my biggest disappointment was that there was so much potential from the original that was left unexploited, and the ultimate effect was that the movie seemed more of way to make some quick money versus trying to create a worthy successor to "The Mummy".Though I felt the movie could have been better, there were parts that shine through as successes. The train was excellent. I am a fan of trains, and the train used in this movie was perfect, with superior detail. The Scorpion King digital effects were very good. Most of the portion of the movie inside the pyramid at the end was well done. There are other places that were also well done mixed in with an occasionally slow story that doesn't hold a candle to the original.Had this movie not had such a good predecessor, I suspect that I would have enjoyed it more. However, the comparison is automatic. In spite of my complaints and the down sides of this movie, it's still a decent movie. Not great, but okay. While I may be in danger of wearing out "The Mummy" DVD, it's unlikely that "The Mummy Returns" will get much more than an occasional playing. This could have been a 5 star movie, but the occasionally cheesy story and the lack of a serious scare factor for most of the movie pushes this movie back into the realm of a very low 4 stars.