In order to live up to the successful 1999 movie The Mummy, The Mummy 4 must fix a major character problem. The latest adventure of the trilogy, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, was not as well received as the previous two, as demonstrated by a very low Rotten Tomatoes score of only 13%. Therefore, a hypothetical fourth Mummy movie would have to undergo some changes to redeem the franchise.
There has been an interest in another Mummy adventure with Brendan Fraser in the lead due to his increase in popularity. Fraser himself has already stated that he would be on board and so there does not seem to stand anything in the way of another possible movie. However, in order to turn The Mummy 4 into another hit, producers and writers would need to learn from the mistakes made in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Why Alex O’Connell Was Such A Problem For The Mummy 3
The first movie introduced a great chemistry between Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), so it only seemed natural to introduce their son in The Mummy Returns to explore the story of the O’Connells further. Alex O’Connell is a cute, adventurous boy who joins his parents on excavations and who can hold his own against foes. He definitely provided a number of humorous moments and played a vital role in the overall storyline. In the third Mummy movie, however, that chemistry was constantly upset by an adult Alex who kept trying to one up his parents.
Whereas the occasional complaints of a young Alex were entertaining and relatable, it took on a very different dimension in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The constant tension between Alex and his parents created a fair bit of awkwardness. There also appears to be a lack of information to justify Alex’s resentment for his father, which would have benefited from additional explanation.
How The Mummy 4 Can Fix The O’Connell Family Problems
One of the ways The Mummy 4 could fix the O’Connell family problems is to put the focus back on the power couple, Rick and Evelyn, as there sometimes is just not enough room for too many main heroes. Their strong and interesting background stories made for a great storyline before, which is something that got omitted in the third movie. So leaving out Alex altogether could be a viable solution to fix the family problem as he does not quite fill the shoes of other relatable characters from The Mummy.
Another solution to fixing the O’Connell family problems would be to keep Alex O’Connell as a character, but to establish a clear backstory. This would additionally provide the opportunity to create some synergies between him and the return of some other beloved characters to reappear for a final quest. Either way, changes to his character are necessary in order to avoid the same pitfalls experienced in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
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