The Mummy Returns involves a bunch of the characters from the 1999 remake. Brendan Fraser is now married to the British chick with the red hair, and they also have a son to tag along for the ride. A cult resurrects the Mummy in order to fight the Scorpion King (the Rock) so the world won’t be destroyed.

Although I disliked the original Mummy, this sequel is much worse. The original was campy, kind of fun, and suffered from a slow pace. This sequel is non-stop action scenes with a confusing plot and tons of CG special effects—many of them poorly done! The characters in the first film had a little bit of development and some sorta funny lines before The Mummy came back to life and started killing things. In this one, the Mummy gets resurrected pretty soon after the beginning and the movie degenerates into action scene after action scene. Don’t get me wrong—I love action movies, but this one is all sound and fury and with a plot that makes no sense. Also it goes on for way too long, much like the original. If you thought my brief plot synopsis above was confusing, it’s even worse in the movie!

I enjoyed some of the fight scenes in the movie, especially the sequence where two characters fight with sais.

Brendan Fraser is OK in this movie, although I still don’t buy him as an action star. His character is really more of an asshole the entire time. Similar to the first movie, I found the supporting characters much funnier and more interesting than any of the leads—especially the guy who piloted the hot-air balloon, the Mummy’s evil female sidekick, and the British chick who is Brendan Fraser’s wife in the movie. The guy who played their son in the movie wasn’t bad either—the cutesy lines weren’t overdone too much. The Rock’s performance is not very good. Granted, I know nothing about wrestling (or professional wrestling/WWF/WCW/etc.), but the Rock is only in this movie for five minutes and has one line spoken in Egyptian—and even the line, which is something along the lines of “Charge! Kill them!” is delivered in a rather lackluster tone. The Rock does well in the opening action scene, however.

The special effects are mainly CG and are a mixed bag. They were done by ILM, which is one of the best special effects companies working in Hollywood today—not to mention one of the most expensive! The special effects were well done on the Pygmies and the Mummy. Close-ups of the Dog Warriors were done well. My main problem was with the special effects in the final battle (they look like something out of a badly rendered 3-D fighting game) and the long-shots of the Dog Warriors… The Pygmies are very cool and reminded me of CG mummified Gremlins. Some of the water CG effects look fake also.

The Mummy Returns is a lame sequel to a lame remake (although I’ve yet to see the 1930’s original with Boris Karloff)—and it made over $70 million its opening weekend, setting a new record.

I give The Mummy Returns *1/2 out of ****.