Rating of
2/4
"The Mummy Returns" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/19/12
Brendan Fraser and co are once again terrorised by cartoon mummies in this typical Hollywood sequel; it tries so hard to outdo the first that the ingredients that made it work get lost in the flabby, overblown excess. The Mummy worked because it had fun interplay between hugely likeable characters, only marred by the over-reliance on cartoony CGI. So what did Sommers do? Cut out all the characterisation and dialogue, and put in loads more CGI...Fraser and Weisz's kooky romance is replaced by schmaltzy married bliss complete with precocious brat, and Hannah's character does little more than bicker with an 8 year old. The plot consists of stereotypes spouting cliches between race against time chase sequences and as soon as they conclude the baddies immediately reappear and start another one. This culminates in a fight sequence with the dreadfully rendered Scorpion King which looks like something out of a videogame. Having said all that, Sommers does know how to direct action and it does have some nice production design, so it rarely broke the cardinal rule and bored me. Passable, but so incredibly dumb it in no way tempted me to watch yet another sequel or spin-off.
