Time: 112 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Contains violence and horror
Cast:
Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell
Maria Bello as Evelyn Carnahan-O’Connell
John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan
Russell Wong as General Ming Guo
Liam Cunningham as Mad Dog Maguire
Luke Ford as Alexander Rupert “Alex” O’Connell
Isabella Leong as Lin
Michelle Yeoh as Zi Yuan
Jet Li as Qin Shi Huang
Director: Rob Cohen

The Mummy Returns was a step down from the original movie from 1999, but The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is an even further step down, even if it had some enjoyable moments.

One of the most notable changes in the third entry of the Mummy series was the change from focussing on mummies in Egypt to Qin Dynasty China and the Terracotta Army. The Mummy Returns was a rehash of the previous movie, so it was refreshing to have a different sort of story and focus, even if Tomb of the Dragon Emperor doesn’t exactly have a mummy or an undead antagonist. Storywise, that’s as far as the praise goes. Much of what made the first couple movies enjoyable just isn’t here. The story is middling and unengaging, the sense of adventure wasn’t felt, and the humour misses more than hits with tired jokes and quips. There isn’t much genuine heart or charm, there are virtually no character moments, and the exposition dialogue is bog standard. It even lacks the bits of horror which added some flavour to the previous films.

Brendan Fraser and John Hannah are the only returning actors from the previous two films. Fraser is charming, Hannah is amusing, they both try their best, and they at least feel like their characters. One of the most notable aspects is the fact that Rachel Weisz was recast with Maria Bello. It seems that Weisz didn’t want to return after looking at the script. To be fair, Bello is mostly fine, but you feel the lack of the original actress. Her British accent is wonky, and the chemistry between her and Fraser just didn’t feel the same. Still, as much as the recasting gets especially criticized, it’s far from the worst part of the movie. Michelle Yeoh is good, so is Liam Cunningham. Jet Li is a decent villain when he’s on screen but he’s underused and most of his appearances are him covered with CGI.

Director Rob Cohen is a notable step down from Stephen Sommers. The best thing I can say is that the CGI here isn’t as bad as the CGI in The Mummy Returns, that’s it. The rest of the direction from the camerawork to the editing really suffers. The visuals are hit or miss, with a ton of CGI used especially in the third act. While not horrible, the effects are still pretty rough. There is some fun action, although it’s a bit underwhelming at times.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor isn’t terrible and has its fun moments, but it’s by far the worst entry in the trilogy, with mediocre directing, an unengaging story, and lacking the charm and sense of adventure of the previous two movies.