This year marks the 23-year anniversary of Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy Returns. It features a future Oscar winner (Rachel Weisz) and her husband, Rick O’Connell, who must deal with the evil mummy Imhotep after he’s unleashed. Now armed with power and immortality, Rick and Evelyn must go on a journey to save the world because the reign of terror begins.
When you look on rotten tomatoes, you’ll notice that The Mummy Returns has a low score of 43%. Desperate the rather low critical rating, the sequel to the 1999 hit does something that many modern blockbusters fail to do: be extremely entertaining. The Mummy Returns is far from perfect; in far, the visual effects of Dwayne Johnson’s Scorpion King is downright awful. However, The Mummy Returns is a PERFECT blockbuster that still holds up even though it came out in the early 2000s.
What Is A Perfect Blockbuster?
Blockbusters are completely different from indie darlings or award contenders. No one is ever going to put The Mummy Returns on the same list as Citizen Kane or Pulp Fiction. As previously stated, the movie has it’s faults and it doesn’t hold a candle to more prestigious films. But neither does Jaws, and that’s considered one of the greatest blockbusters ever made. Films like Avatar, Star Wars, Jurassic Park all share one thing in common with The Mummy Returns; they’re all entertaining to every age.
That’s the perfect blockbuster. A film that resonate with not just one demographic, but different generations of every culture. There’s a reason why Marvel films became so huge. Of course, quality matters, and though The Mummy Returns wasn’t the critical darling like the movies mentioned above, it still has features a simple, but nicely paced story that some depth to Evelyn, Rick, and even the villains Imhotep and Anck Su Namun.
Does Evelyn and Rick grow once their adventure is done? No, as the focus is more on the action that character growth, but given the genre that The Mummy Returns is based in, it’s not trying to be some character driven piece that meant to evoke an important conversation. It’s meant to be an unforgettable thrill ride that has you roaring in your seats and that film accomplishes that goal with ease.
Why The Mummy Returns Is The Perfect Blockbuster Sequel
What The Mummy Returns lacks in character development, it makes up in the world building. We’re given more understanding of Imhotep and Anuck Su Namun’s past, and the villains are given a nice layer that allows us to understand their motivations. It could’ve been simple to make the mummy just an evil force standing in the way of Rick and Evelyn, but the film does a nice job of fleshing out the back ground of it’s main supporting characters. However, it isn’t just Rick and Evelyn that steal the show, but their son Alex and Jonathan; the former has the McGuffin attached to his wrist and the other is the comedic relief.
The Mummy Returns checks off the important boxes when it comes to sequels: the action is bigger, the story isn’t a carbon copy of it’s predecessor, and the characters are fun to watch. For a film that came out in 2001, the effects still hold up pretty well. Again, there’s no denying that Dwayne Johnson’s Scorpion King is a visual nightmare. But that one scene doesn’t ruin the entire film. The stakes are higher because the ticking time bomb could’ve seen the death of Alex had they not made it to Egypt in time. The Mummy Returns is action/adventure that features the perfect cast who helps brings this colorful world to life.
Why Tomb of The Dragon Emperor and The Mummy Reboot Failed To Recapture That Same Magic
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and The Mummy reboot with Tom Cruise didn’t understand the crucial aspects of the first two films. The former lost some of that magic when Rachel Weisz didn’t return for the sequel. No disrespect to Maria Bello as she’s an extremely talented actress, but she just didn’t have much chemistry with Brendan Frasier. However, it all comes down to the story and it simply wasn’t good.
Alex was an unlikeable douchebag and as great as Jet Li is, his evil mummy just didn’t have the gravitas of Imhotep because the story felt extremely rushed. The same thing applies to The Mummy reboot. Universal was so focused on launching the Dark Universe that world building beyond The Mummy was the most important aspect to them. It didn’t have the charm of the Brendan Frasier films and it was pretty bland by action standards. The Mummy Returns represents the perfect balance of everything necessary to craft an excellent blockbuster and it’s the reason it remains a timeless classic.
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