04/17/2009
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I think the biggest problem seems to be Brendan Fraser, there's just too many critics out there who hate the guy. It seems any of Brendans latest movies have him as the first stumbling block (Journey to the Center of the Earth/Inkheart), but myself, he does what he does, an action light hero for kids/family viewing.
OK, so to the film.
The first thing you notice that does take some getting used to is that Rachel Weisz has been replaced by Maria Bello. It took me about half the movie to get used to her, but that's not her fault, more I think that Weisz had made such an impact with the character in the first 2 movies. Also, there son Alex is now grown (Luke Ford) and is a mix of his Dad's adventurous spirit and his Uncle Jonathon's ignorance. But again, I'm not sure it's his fault I took so long to get used to him or more to the point that you kind of expect all heroes these days to be perfect and making mistakes just should'nt happen.
There's no Arnold Vosslo this outing as other than him being finished off in Mummy 2, thuis film takes place in China, with the Mummy being played superbly by Jet Li, a Warlord who conquered all he saw until he was tricked conquering the last goal-immortality by a witch played by Michelle Yeoh.
Of course after the Warlord is imprisoned for millenia along with his now Terracotta Army, he's accidentally released and the fun starts.
I think for me and my family, we enjoyed it so much as we'd been watching old Ray Harryhausen movies, and after those this just seemed the modern day equivalent. Simple classical stories interspersed with great monsters (abominable snowmen, 3 headed dragons etc) and one sided bad guys that you just know will not make it to the final credits.
What more do you want from a family movie?
Picture and sound are excellent though not stretching the format much. It's nice to see al the fiery detail in Jet Li's body as it cracks and moves exposing the fiery substance beneath, but the scenery did'nt really 'pop'as it did in The Forbidden Kingdom, the previous Blu Ray I watched.
Rated 4 out of 5
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