2001, 2 hrs 5 min., Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence.�Dir: Stephen Sommers. Cast: Brendan Fraser (Rick O'Connell), Rachel Weisz (Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan O'Connell), Freddie Boath (Alex O'Connell), John Hannah (Jonathan Carnahan), Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep), Oded Fehr (Ardeth Bay), Dwayne Johnson/The Rock (The Scorpion King), Patricia Velazquez (Anck-Su-Namun).

Just a quickie lame review, since it made $70 million this weekend and everyone's already seen it:

The Mummy has returned to the big screen in a big way, with every hint that the sequel learned from the first. There are more explosions, CGI is overused and silliness abounds. It's all good fun and the perfect popcorn debut for the summer movie extravaganza.

But, I do have complaints, namely that bit with the CGI. There's a bit too much of it, and many scenes using fancy-shmancy graphics didn't need to. The film also could've been a little shorter and more compact. Also, I haven't seen the first one in a long time, and have continuity questions. I was a bit lost on references to the original, such as, how did they find the mummy's body, and how he ended up there after the first one?

The Mummy Returns doesn't even belong to Brendan Fraser anymore. This isn't a bad thing, even though I like Fraser. In the sequel, we get to see more of Rachel Weisz and their son in the film, Alex (Freddie Boath), as well as a lot of time spent with the bad guys.

As a weak-willed man, I must mention the best scene of the flick. It involves a 'flashback' vision of Rachel Weisz and Patricia Velazquez doing hand-to-hand combat among ancient Egyptians, with plenty of skin showing and limbs flailing about in carefully choreographed routines that were about the sexiest thing I've seen on film. Yowza! I fell in love with Weisz in the first one, Enemy At the Gates solidified it, and this puts her over the top of my Top Five list. Scenes like this make The Mummy Returns a rollicking good time, even if it does fall far short of the goal of making people relive the Indiana Jones trilogy. The music wasn't memorable, there was much more silliness and the action wasn't as gripping. You were never worried that the heroes wouldn't save the day, as the film was just a tad beyond reality and entirely predictable.

Not that you'll really care. Just bring a bucket of popcorn, a tub of Coke and some Goobers, and enjoy the fun on screen. And I hope you enjoy the Pygmy Mummies as much as I did.

The verdict:

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