The Mummy Returns at least lives up to its title. Like Freddy, Jason, and numerous soap opera characters, Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) comes back from the dead, this time to face the Scorpion King (The Rock) and use his undead army to rule the world.

The Rock's appearance in The Mummy Returns reminded me of the old television show "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". What could the two possibly have in common? Well, Sir Alfred would make a brief appearance only at the beginning and end of the show. He would also have something funny to say, which unfortunately is more than The Rock gets from the screenwriters. Mostly he just makes angry faces.

The Rock's cameo appearance must have been a disappointment to his pro wrestling fans. But the film's real target audience appears to be "Xena" devotees, since there is a trio of catfights between the two female hotties, Evy (Rachel Weisz) and Anck Su Namun (Patricia Velasquez). Evy was a clumsy librarian in the first film, but she's since had time to become a champion Ninja-styled fighter, when not busy teaching her eight-year-old child Alex (Freddie Boath) to be fluent in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Alex seems to be based on young Anakin from The Phantom Menace: young, adorable, courageous, brilliant, and sassy. While Boath is admittedly a much better actor than the tyke who played Anakin, the range and fortitude of his character strains credibility. To let his parents know where he is, he doesn't write a message in the sand. He builds a scaled replica of the ruins!

But the plot shreds credibility as well. Beyond the numerous 'take it on face value' superstitions, there are such preposterous events as a rocket-propelled hydrogen gas blimp, a man who can outrun the rising sun (while carrying a child, no less), and a bus that can lose its top half on a bridge without swerving or even slowing down.

The film promises action, and it delivers. But some sequences work better than others. The demon on the bus is entertaining, as are the midget killer skeletons. The same can't be said for the sand dog warriors, who are not only hapless, but they aren't interesting. George Lucas did a better job with computer-generated beings and battles in the recent Star Wars movies.

Take away the action, however, and what is left? There's some embarrassing comic relief with blue-blooded dufus Jonathan (John Hannah), a decent evil romance between Vosloo and Velasquez, an all-knowing desert chieftain (Oded Fehr) who looks like the late George Harrison, the usual weasel henchmen who get what's coming to them, and a few passable child-in-peril scenes with alternating bad guys threatening Alex. Note that the latter have no suspense associated with them, since the Hollywood production code requires the lad's survival.

What is missing, and what did exist in the first film, is chemistry between our now married heroes, Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evy. Fraser's first-billed role is relatively small, and he's generally relegated to bodyguard status. Surely all the time, effort, and money that went into this film should deliver more than that. (37/100).

k@filmsgraded.com, filmsgraded.com


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8