Tagline: "Adventure Is Reborn."

Length: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for adventure action and violence

The Mummy Returns is an action-packed kids’ movie with lots of computer-generated special effects. Many adults seem to like the film, but I thought it was boring when I watched it recently on DVD. Some of the action sequences and images are reasonably entertaining, but I never really cared about any of the characters. Also, many of the movie’s ideas seemed to be recycled from other films I’d already seen, and after two hours and ten minutes of The Mummy Returns I felt as if I’d spent way more time on it than it was worth.

The Mummy Returns is a sequel to the popular 1999 film The Mummy. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz reprise their roles from the earlier movie, but nine years have passed and in the interim Rick (Fraser) and Evy (Weisz) have married and have an eight-year-old son Alex. This time around, Rick, Evy, and Alex are exploring ancient Egyptian ruins when they discover a gold bracelet that once belonged to the Scorpion King (The Rock of the WWF), eventually resulting in Alex being kidnapped. Meanwhile, a group led by a British Museum curator resurrects the mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo, reprising his role from The Mummy), and he greatly complicates the picture by pursuing his own agenda. Soon Rick and Evy are in a race against time to recover their son and save the world from destruction.

The film’s plot is serviceable but unimportant, except to the extent that it serves as a framework on which to hang action sequences and special effects. Among the more entertaining things shown in the movie are soldier mummies scurrying after a double-decker bus in London, pygmy mummies attacking a group of armed men, and an army of nine-foot-tall jackal-headed bipeds materializing from desert sand. There’s also a diverting sequence where two well-toned young women practice their martial arts skills while wearing what might be called ancient Egyptian bikinis.

The DVD offers an audio commentary by writer-director Stephen Sommers and executive producer-editor Bob Ducsay that I found mildly interesting. I admired their frankness in pointing out some of the small errors in the film, and I must admit that I would never have noticed a single one of them. I guess they weren’t risking much, though, since they say that The Mummy Returns grossed $200 million in its United States theatrical release and is expected to gross another $200 million overseas. They mention critic Roger Ebert’s name about three times in the context that he gave the film a thumbs-down. Actually, Ebert wasn’t alone in giving the movie a negative review: 53 percent of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes found The Mummy Returns to be rotten.

The DVD is loaded with extras, and I’ve listed most of them below.

Selected Special Features on the Collector's Edition DVD: