Can you pass me the popcorn? Oh, that’s right I am here to give my review of the sequel to the 1999 box office champ, “The Mummy”. As I gaze into a kernel of popcorn as the screen flickers by with the action of the sequel. I begin to realize how very much my little butter-flavored friend and this film have in common.

The sequel begins some eight years after the events that transpired in the first film. The hero of the first film, Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) is married to his true love Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and they now have an eight year old son named Alex (Freddie Boath). The O’Connell’s still have a thirst for knowledge and a drive to uncover new pieces of lost Egyptian civilizations.

We find the O’Connell’s chasing after the Bracelet of Anubis which is also sought by some mad followers of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), the mummy in the first film. Imhotep’s beloved Anck-Su-Namon (Patricia Velasquez) has been reincarnated and is leading the followers to resurrect her beloved. Anck-Su-Namon also believes that if the O’Connell’s find the Bracelet of Anubis, she and her man can rule the world. The bracelet is linked to an ancient myth that talks about a devastated warrior who sells his soul so that he could win a glorious battle. The warrior’s name is The Scorpion King (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). When the bracelet unlocks and releases the King, his armies will ravage the world.

“The Mummy Returns” for me was one of the most anticipated films of 2001. I sure hope the others aren’t like this one. Maybe I am getting old or that I have seen too many films but from the first scenes with the O’Connells I felt something was missing. The element I believe that was missing was that the film had no heart like its predecessor. The action is relentless and hardly ever gives you a chance to breathe. You never get a chance to ask why are these characters going on this quest and furthermore why do we want to follow them. Before you are able to understand that all the characters from the first film are together and you have mummies crawling along the walls of London.

Then one of the O’Connells is grabbed and the rest of the characters are in pursuit. This is seems to be “the main thread line” for the whole film. Ok, they have Evelyn, we must save her. Oh no, now they have Alex damn we better chase them some more. This is a perfect example of bad plotting.

For those of us who have seen “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, this film definitely has the same relationship that “Temple of Doom” had with “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. “Doom” was a roller-coaster ride, with a more sinister storyline and an extremely annoying kid. Those basic plot elements are very relevant in the “Mummy Returns”. Plus if you remember how vastly annoying Short Round was in “Temple of Doom” and add about five you will have the character of Alex in this one. When the heart and value system of the first film is lost in the sequel, the film always has gaping holes. Also why every time they make a sequel does the hero have to have a kid or lose his lady love before the film opens? This sequel plot element is always a bad sign.

There have been very few film series that have had excellent second entries. Star Wars and Aliens are the only I can remember where the sequel was vastly superior to the original. However, with franchises often the third time is a charm which means I could welcome a third entry in this series. What about you?

Please don’t think that I hated everything I saw. The special effects were brilliant and amazing to watch. The multi-layered textures of the cities and crypts were captivating. The “dog” faced warriors and the war scenes were definite eye candy. I sometimes enjoyed the war scenes more than the O’Connell’s struggle. I also loved the comedic elements of the pygmy mummies and the some of the forest sequence really excited me. The only real disappointment of the film’s effects were the climatic creature’s face was a little on the tedious side. He reminded me of Ray Harryhausen which can look pretty bad when trying to blend that unique style with CGI effects.

I really enjoyed the performances of Brendan Fraser, Oded Fehr and Arnold Vosloo but the others I am a little mixed on. Some reasons I wondered if having all them was necessary. It could be a failure that they brought back the first film’s entire cast and added two more characters. Its really hard remembering who is who and what is the part they play. I would have been happy with just Rick and 2 friends verses the baddies. I didn’t think it was necessary.

As for the film debut of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, I enjoyed his film presence and his scene. His sequence was one of the most enjoyable in the film. To bad it’s for only 5-7 minutes. The legend behind his character “The Scorpion King” is very inspiring and its no wonder they want to do a film on the character. If that film is as good as the Rock’s sequence in this film, it could be memorable ride.

Without a heart, the film for me was all flash and no substance much like the little kernel of popcorn sitting in my hand. With only blemishes of brilliance throughout, I was disappointed with the sequel.

(3 of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.

The story is set in 1935, 10 years after the events of the first film. Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan are now married and the couple has settled in London, where they are raising their 9-year-old son Alex. A chain of events involving a museum curator and the reincarnated body of Anck-Su-Namun finds the remains of Imhotep resurrected in the British Museum, the mummy Imhotep walks the earth once more, determined to fulfill his quest for world domination. But another force has also been set loose in the world. Some 5000 years previous to the story a man known as the Scorpion King made his own attempt at ruling the world, but when his great army fought the army of Thebes he was stopped in his tracks. The Scorpion King made a pact with the dark God Anubis for revenge. Anubis agreed and allowed the Scorpion King to command his massive army of nearly invincible dark warriors. The Scorpion King finally got his revenge and Anubis got his soul, never to be released for 5000 years, at which time the king would walk the mortal earth with the army of Anubis behind him. When these two forces clash, the fate of the world will hang in the balance, sending the O'Connells on a desperate race to save the world from unspeakable evil, and rescue their son before it is too late.

Plot: Those who are familiar with the first film, The Mummy, will quickly discover that the plot to this sequel is significantly more complex and more deep. Because of this the audience has to pay attention a bit more than with The Mummy. Writer/Director Stephen Sommers still manages to keep the fun silliness that made the first film such a success. Keep in mind that the script is not flawless, it has enough historical anachronisms and less-than-the-best dialogue to keep it from being called perfect, but it is still very enjoyable nonetheless. **** (out of five)

Acting: Brendan Fraser has never been my favorite actor and before I saw the original Mummy I had serious doubts that he could pull off a leading role. Somehow he managed to succeed in leading that film and continues to do so in it's sequel. Of course his performance in this film won't be winning any awards, but it is good enough to make one forget that this is the same man who played the Encino man and Dudley Do-right. Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) is noticeably less mysterious and intriguing than he was in The Mummy which, in turn, makes his character less interesting. This film is forced to rely more on the story than on the character...which is probably for the better. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is credited in this film for the role of The Scorpion King, but when it's all said and done his role can't be summed up as anything more than a cameo. Throughout the entire film his character has only one line...which is in Egyptian. So it makes it that much harder to judge The Rock's acting ability. Young Freddie Boath plays 9-year-old Alex O'Connell. He does an admirably job although it certainly isn't anything to write home about. He isn't nearly as good as Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, but he is infinitely better than Jake Lloyd in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. ****(out of five)

Directing: Writer/Director Stephen Sommers (Minnesota native) has an adventurous visual style that is reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones films. Sommers has always been more of a visual than literary director so it comes as no surprise that The Mummy Returns boils down to two hours of eye candy. Sommers also does a great job at creating a kind of fun suspense throughout the movie and gives the audience a surprise every once and awhile to keep them watching. Between this film and the first one I've noticed a great improvement in how fight scenes are choreographed and filmed. In The Mummy there really weren't any fight scenes that were different from what audiences have seen many a time before, but with this film Sommers changes some of his previous ideas and makes action worth watching again. In my opinion there were two big directorial problems with this film. First, the opening engagement between The Scorpion King's forces and the army of Thebes looks and feels far too similar to the battle between the Romans and the Germanians in Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Second, a scene latter on in the film that involves these pygmy/mummy creatures picking off their victims at night in high weeds looks almost exactly like the scene where the raptors where picking off their prey in the high weeds at night in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. ****1/2 (out of five)

Music: Composer Alan Silvestri, who has created memorable scores for such films as Back to the Future and Predator, creates a soundtrack that's loud and imposing, but ultimately lacking. In his favor Silvestri does an excellent job of marrying his score with Jerry Goldsmith's The Mummy score and he perfectly compliments the visuals on the screen. But when it is all said and done as soon as the movie is over no one will remember the music. ***1/2(out of five)

Special Effects: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) is the special effects powerhouse that started it all with 1977's Star Wars. They continue to this day creating the new directions of the special effects industry. ILM had the effects job of 1999's The Mummy and they were called on again to make the effects for The Mummy Returns. Like any good sequel The Mummy Returns has more and better effects than it's predecessor. Visual Effects work for The Mummy Returns informally began two days after The Mummy opened in theaters in 1999. According to Visual Effects Supervisor John Berton, Stephen Sommers had written The Mummy without consideration for the special effects, but for The Mummy Returns he came to ILM and asked for impressive ideas before he began the script. This film marks the return of a CG (computer generated) Imhotep and his guards in their familiar decayed state. In this film one will notice that these CG images interact with live-action actors more now than ever before. Among the new characters on display in The Mummy Returns were nine-foot-tall, jackal-headed warriors of Anubis. Unlike previous creatures, these Anubis warriors were not mummified aberrations, but instead a healthy, full-musculatured creature. On screen the Anubis warriors worked beautifully and displayed some of ILM's better compositing and animating work. Many of the ancient Egyptian cities were realized by using giant physical models or detailed digital matte paintings. This film contained some admirably smooth transitions from the ancient past to the present that rival similar effects found in Titanic. But, not every effect in this film is a beautiful one. For example, a floating boat used for transportation in the movie looks somewhat fake about half of the time and towards the end of the movie when the Scorpion King is reincarnated his face looks too CG to be real. Overall, some great work. ****1/2(out of five)

Bottom Line: The Mummy Returns is equally if not more exciting than it's original. Sure, sure the movie is still silly, but it is even more fun the second time around. ****(out of five)