The Mummy/The Mummy Returns [1998]

See Larger Image	List Price: £15.99 Our Price: £7.98 Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Jonathan Hyde Directed By: Stephen Sommers Average Customer Rating:


Audience Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Binding: DVD EAN: 5050582569193 Format: Box set Label: Universal Pictures UK Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Universal Pictures UK Region Code: 2 Release Date: 2008-07-21 Running Time: 245 Studio: Universal Pictures UK Theatrical Release Date: 1998
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Editorial Reviews: The Mummy If you're expecting bandaged-wrapped corpses and a lurching Boris Karloff-type villain, then you've come to the wrong movie. But if outrageous effects, a hunky hero, and some hearty laughs are what you're looking for, the 1999 version of The Mummy is spectacularly good fun. Yes, the critics called it "hokey," "cheesy," and "pallid." Well, the critics are unjust. Granted, the plot tends to stray, the acting is a bit of a stretch, and the characters occasionally slip into cliché, but who cares? When that action gets going, hold tight--those two hours just fly by. The premise of the movie isn't that far off from the original. Egyptologist and general mess Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) discovers a map to the lost city of Hamunaptra, and so she hires rogue Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) to lead her there. Once there, Evelyn accidentally unlocks the tomb of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a man who had been buried alive a couple of millennia ago with flesh-eating bugs as punishment for sleeping with the pharaoh's girlfriend. The ancient mummy is revived, and he is determined to bring his old love back to life, which of course means much mayhem (including the unleashing of the 10 plagues) and human sacrifice. Despite the rather gory premise, this movie is fairly tame in terms of violence; most of the magic and surprise come from the special effects, which are glorious to watch, although Imhotep, before being fully reconstituted, is, as one explorer puts it, rather "juicy." Keep in mind this film is as much comedy as it is adventure--those looking for a straightforward horror pic will be disappointed. But for those who want good old-fashioned eye-candy kind of fun, The Mummy ranks as one of choicest flicks of 1999. --Jenny Brown The Mummy Returns Proving that bigger is rarely better, The Mummy Returns serves up so much action and so many computer-generated effects that it quickly grows exhausting. In his zeal to establish a lucrative franchise, writer-director Stephen Sommers dispenses with such trivial matters as character development and plot logic, and charges headlong into an almost random buffet of minimum story and maximum mayhem, beginning with a prologue establishing the ominous fate of the Scorpion King (played by World Wrestling Federation star the Rock, in a cameo teaser for his later starring role in--you guessed it--The Scorpion King). Dormant for 5,000 years, under control of the Egyptian god Anubis, the Scorpion King will rise again in 1933, which is where we find The Mummy's returning heroes Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, now married and scouring Egyptian ruins with their 8-year-old son, Alex (Freddie Boath). John Hannah (as Weisz's brother) and Oded Fehr (as mystical warrior Ardeth Bay) also return from The Mummy, and trouble begins when Alex dons the Scorpion King's ancient bracelet, coveted by the evil mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), who's been revived by... oh, but does any of this matter? With a plot so disposable that it's impossible to care about anything that happens, The Mummy Returns is best enjoyed as an intermittently amusing and physically impressive monument of Hollywood machinery, with gorgeous sets that scream for a better showcase, and digital trickery that tops its predecessor in ambition, if not in payoff. By the time our heroes encounter a hoard of ravenous pygmy mummies, you'll probably enjoy this movie in spite of itself. --Jeff Shannon
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: The Mummy/The Mummy Returns Comment: When I bought the Mummy Returns on VHS I did so on the basis that I had a good time watching its predecessor, which as we all knew fell under "trashy but huge fun" and was deservedly a massive success. So naturally I thought the sequel would be a sound buy, and at the time (some seven years ago) I thought it was after seeing it. But looking back on both the Mummy and its sequel I realize that while the first Mummy was by no means Raiders Of The Lost Ark it was still a great ride, however cheesy it may have been, but The Mummy Returns begins to drag desperately at a point where the first movie went up a gear. Its not that I didn't enjoy The Mummy Returns (I think its quite clear I recommend The Mummy) or felt the effects were poor, but they don't really give you anything more than a recycled plot, good actors having a good time, occasionally quite weak effects and a few unmemorable new additions. Sure The Mummy spent two hours rolling around in its own humorous easy-going story, but hey that was thoroughly enjoyable and there was hardly a dull moment in that movie which in short delivered what it promised and did its job as a fun filled summer blockbuster, however there were, in fairness some genuinely sinister scenes at the very beginning in addition to some very well used tricks when the mummy "harvests" its victims organs. Funny how the absence of that particular CGI shot (that was present in the sequel) meant the end result in the sequences where Imhotep (our mummy) confronted the Americans was far more effective. Getting back to the point number two in the series never really enters new territory; you have an organized group of bad guys who want to resurrect the Mummy from the first movie to "take down" the new villain, the Scorpion King (which allows "The Rock" a glorified cameo at the start of the movie). Their plan, to kill the Scorpion King and gain control over his army and take over the world, basically we now have a middleman between the actual Mummy and an army he needs to take over the world. To be fair to the first the destruction of the world was more of a side issue for Mr. Imhotep who really just wanted "his dead girlfriend" back in his arms. As the actor who played Imhotep stated this was more of a skewered version of Romeo and Juliet to this guy/Mummy. As The Mummy Returns sets up, this woman is re-incarnated and that plot piece from The Mummy is dealt with fairly quickly. Speaking of The Mummy Returns the heroes from movie one are all back with one new slightly indifferent addition in the form Alex, the O'Connell's son who manages to avoid being too annoying despite taking any real seriousness the movie had to offer away. The acting in both Mummies is for the most part good and in the same tongue in check mode we have come to expect with the regular gags, one-liners and more of the same action, which in the Mummy Returns case borrows heavily from some set-pieces in movie one. Whether The Mummy returns is a rehash is a matter of opinion, but generally quite a bit is recycled from its predecessor namely the action sequences such as the sandstorm, this time with water, various nods to gags in movie one such as dialog, and the bookcase scene, a very nice touch it has to be said. Sticking with Mummy Returns some of the action scenes are huge fun namely a bus chase involving Pharaohs guards at the start and the most improbable chase through the jungle where Brendan Frazer outruns the sun (yes I did say that). The Mummy felt like a 20's style adventure in the desert with a arsenal of special effects, good actors and a decent premise that featured all this action in pyramids and exciting scenes of that nature and that's what I at least found so appealing about it after looking back over it. Its sequel doesn't ever seem as interesting despite being entertaining in certain parts and the characters seem a little more detached in the scenes involving CGI than they did in the first movie(though Arnold Vosloo is quite menacing throughout). As a massive Indiana Jones fan I feel obligated to say that the two Mummy movies do not come anywhere remotely close to that Trilogy but to be fair we don't generally get a Raiders Film very often so it doesn't infringe on these movies that much. Overall the two Mummy movies do all right, The first is huge fun but The Mummy returns didn't do it for me to the point where I could seriously recommend it, it didn't manage to pull off the humour and occasionally the more sinister aspects of the first nor was the story as interesting (well as popcorn movies goes the story in The Mummy was quite interesting). To wrap this up all I am doing is reviewing the two Mummy movies, I do not own this DVD edition and cannot give a description of the bonus material, although there doesn't appear to be any mentioned on Amazon, which may indicate that this edition is merely both movie s side by side, in which case I'd recommend buying the two disc editions separately. More Reviews