Rated PG-13 for adventure action and violence.
Directed by Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious, XXX)
Starring Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Wong, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong
Once again a Mummy adventure movie packed with action, laughs and a whole lotta CGI.
The next chapter in The Mummy series stars Brendan Fraser who returns as explorer Rick O'Connell to combat the resurrected Emperor Han (Jet Li) who has been awakened from a 2000-year-old sleep. Han was cursed by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) to spend eternity in suspended animation. China's ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors have been forgotten, remaining entombed in clay as a huge, silent army. But when dashing adventurer Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) is tricked into awakening the ruler from eternal slumber, the reckless young archaeologist must seek the help of the only people who know more than he does about taking down the undead: his parents. So together Rick, Alex, Evelyn (Maria Bello) and her brother, Jonathan (John Hannah) race from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas.
Remember when The Mummy first came out? It was big and fun and kid friendly. It was like an updated Indiana Jones action-adventure film and it introduced a whole new generation to the genre. Fast forward nine years, we have seen a less-than-stellar sequel and two terrible spin-off films (The Scorpion King 1 and 2 – yeah they are releasing The Scorpion King 2 on DVD on August 19), so I wasn’t expecting much. Although Hollywood has made vast improvements in CGI and some huge action-adventure blockbusters (National Treasure 1 & 2 and the return of Indiana Jones), I still had a hard time getting excited to see this one.
In this latest installment the adventure takes us into China and besides that, there’s not much to the story. We have our tyrant leader who is cursed because of love, jealousy and the unquenchable thirst for power and immortality; mistakenly resurrected and ready to conquer the world until our hero saves the day – same story, different film. But even though it’s not new, what makes it entertaining is they poke fun at that throughout the film with lines between father and son:
“I've put down more mummies in my time.”
“One mummy.”
“Same mummy…twice!”
And the all too predictable, “Here we go again!”
Although there are not a lot of new twists or ideas, the special effects are amazing and the Yetis are pretty cool. Brendan Fraser is classic Brendan Fraser, complete with yelling, great facial reactions, and goofiness; all of which make me laugh. Maria Bello, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are all great, but again none of them are doing anything new.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is strictly a popcorn entertainment movie, but wait for the DVD release then go rent it.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
The PG-13 rating is for adventure action and violence which means it can be intense and pretty violent but it is not graphic. There is little if any blood and almost no swearing. I think creatures would be too scary for the younger viewers but tweeners on up should be fine.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
