MovieChat Forums > The Mummy Returns (2001) Discussion > Just watched this again for the first ti...

Just watched this again for the first time in years...

posted 13 years ago by bpmct
7 replies | jump to latest

It really holds up! I'll admit the CGI is a little dated, but MAN this was fun. I miss these kind of adventure movies. I have the three disc set that has the first two films and "The Scorpian King" (which I haven't watched). I never saw the third Mummy, is it any good!?

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[–] hbenthow 13 years ago

It really holds up! I'll admit the CGI is a little dated, but MAN this was fun. I miss these kind of adventure movies.

About the CGI being dated, I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they were so rushed. They never got to finish a lot of it. The CGI in "The Mummy" was all completed, so it actually holds up better than the CGI in its sequel.

Although I did enjoy it, I didn't really enjoy "The Mummy Returns" as much as "The Mummy". The biggest reasons were that it changed a lot of things around (such as making Evey a re-incarnation of Neferetiri), and that Evey wasn't as interesting as in the first movie. I know that she acted different because she's married and a mother now, but I can't help but miss the adorable, bumbling librarian from the first movie. I also missed Beni. I wish they had found a way to bring him back alive. Still, "The Mummy Returns" was a lot of fun, just not quite as much as "The Mummy" (to me, at least). Both movies are better than the average adventure movie of recent times.

I have the three disc set that has the first two films and "The Scorpian King" (which I haven't watched). I never saw the third Mummy, is it any good!?

"The Scorpion King" is pretty good. It's not as good as "The Mummy", of course, but not bad. It's kind of like the 1980s "Conan the Barbarian". Interestingly, in "The Scorpion King", Mathayus is the hero, and in "The Mummy Returns", he's a villain.

"The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" was hugely inferior to "The Mummy", "The Mummy Returns", and even "The Scorpion King". Rob Cohen took over as director, and his style just doesn't work for this franchise. There's too much shaky-cam, and just about every line is a joke so dumb it's not funny. For example, in one scene, they're all flying in a plane, and there is a yak in the plane. The yak vomits, just so Jonathan can say "The yak yakked". Making things worse, Rachel Weisz was replaced by Maria Bello. Maria Bello said in an interview that since Rachel Weisz had an Audrey Hepburn-style charm in "The Mummy" (although I would compare her more to Carole Lombard), she would play the part like Katharine Hepurn. Of course, that makes no sense, as Audrey and Katharine Hepburn are nothing alike. But she did it anyway, or, more accurately, she played a block of wood imitating Katharine Hepburn.

Brendan Fraser and John Hannah looked bored, and pretty much everyone phoned it in. The actor playing Alex was horrible. The plot was just a poorly-done re-hash of the first movie, as was just about everything else in it. As one reviewer put it, "The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" is like dragging a dead dog around in front of a family to remind them of the good times they had with the dog when he was alive". Overall, I would say that it is to the 1999 "The Mummy" what "Batman and Robin" is to Tim Burton's "Batman": a highly inferior sequel with little in common with the original. There were two good things, though: Randy Edelman's musical score was pretty good, and the scene of Rick shooting the fish was hilarious. It was the only scene that really felt like something out of the first two.

Courage, men! We've not sunk before, and we'll not sink now!

[–] bpmct 13 years ago

I remember thinking at the time there was a change in each character. I liked it most for the visuals, CGI aside. The sets were beautiful. As I've said before I'm a very visual person.
I'll have to check out "The Scorpian King". The Rock, or Dwayne Johnson actually seems like a pretty cool guy, and he's really grown as an actor. I'm interested to see this. I think I'll just call "Mummy 3" a miss. Shame. That Audrey Hepburn/Katharine Hepburn thing is one of the most silly things I've ever heard. They're the complete opposite of each other. I've never been one for re-casting anyway. In fact as much as I love Noel Neil (I even met her), I still prefer Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. I guess I just like Phyllis Coates, I have a few film shorts she was in.

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[–] hbenthow 13 years ago

I'll have to check out "The Scorpian King". The Rock, or Dwayne Johnson actually seems like a pretty cool guy, and he's really grown as an actor. I'm interested to see this.

He was kind of bland in "The Mummy Returns", but it was his first movie, and he wasn't cut out for playing villains. In "The Scorpion King", he makes a pretty good hero. He has a lot of charisma.

"The Scorpion King" was made on a much lower budget than "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns", so it's more of a straightforward action movie, with little CGI. It isn't really a fantasy, except for a token sorceress they threw in to make it fit into the fantasy genre. It's not as good as "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns", but it's pretty good for what it is: a low-budget 1980s-style sword and sorcery movie.

I think I'll just call "Mummy 3" a miss. Shame. That Audrey Hepburn/Katharine Hepburn thing is one of the most silly things I've ever heard. They're the complete opposite of each other.

I know. I don't really understand her thinking. I guess she figured it would be clever somehow. But it's as bad as if Christian Bale had said "Hey, Michael Keaton played Batman, so I'll act like Buster Keaton!"

I also hate how the movie itself makes a big joke about the recasting. In one scene, you hear Evey reading from a book she wrote to an audience (she's an author now), but you can't see her face. The book is an account of what happened in "The Mummy", only with some names changed so people wouldn't know it really happened to her and Rick (re-named Scarlette and Dash in the book). In the scene, her voice sounds exactly like Rachel Weisz's voice. One of the people attending the book-reading asks: "Is the Scarlette O'Keefe character based on you?" To which Maria Bello looks up, revealing her face, and responds (in an entirely different voice, not at all resembling Rachel Weisz's) and says "I assure you, she's an entirely different person". She never used Rachel Weisz's voice again, for the rest of the movie, nor did she ever stop acting like a wooden statue of Katharine Hepburn.

I've never been one for re-casting anyway. In fact as much as I love Noel Neil (I even met her), I still prefer Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane.

I thought you had said something about meeting Noel Neill before, but I wasn't sure. What was she like?

Courage, men! We've not sunk before, and we'll not sink now!

[–] bpmct 13 years ago

""Hey, Michael Keaton played Batman, so I'll act like Buster Keaton!"
LOL! I think I'd actually want to see that:)

"I thought you had said something about meeting Noel Neill before, but I wasn't sure. What was she like?"

My wife & I went to a horror convention a couple years back, and she was there. She was very nice, but very fragile. I had her sign my VHS copy of the first Kirk Alyn serial. I didn't have long to talk to her, I told her I was a huge fan of the serial. She tours with this younger guy who charges you $20 to meet her. He's a bit of a jerk, but from what I can tell Noel is very nice. I bought a poster of "Atom Man Vs. Superman" from her as well.
I actually had a better time meeting Bela Lugosi Jr. the same day. I was dressed as Chaplin (it was Halloween) and he actually called me over. I told him that I was a huge fan of his father, and I even took a picture with him (it's on my facebook). Really nice guy! I know he doesn't think to kindly of Ed Wood so i didn't bring up the fact that i got turned on to Bela via "Bride Of The Monster". I also met Boris Karloff's daughter, but she really didn't have much to say.

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[–] victorsuk 13 years ago

The third one if you are expecting it to be as good as one and two may be dissapointed. But i heard a lot of bad reviews, but after watching you have to take it for what it is, and then its not so bad i feel.

But it was criminal not to have Weiz. They should have got a better script for her perhaps and waited for her.

[–] bpmct 13 years ago

As I said, I think I might call it a miss. I love the series, but something about the third just didn't feel "right" to me. It looked tired, and done.

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[–] victorsuk 13 years ago

But loved the second one as well. I particularly liked the london street and london museum scenes, and the mansion scenes.