Full Review

The contemporary revival of a long-running Hollywood franchise -- best remembered for the classic 1932 Boris Karloff vehicle "The Mummy" -- continues with the latest sequel, the lavish but lightweight "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (Universal).
 
In the aftermath of World War II, explorer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), hero of the previous installments, has settled in the English countryside with his wife and fellow adventurer, Evelyn (Maria Bello). Their exploits behind them, they intend to enjoy a normal life. But, though still deeply in love, they've begun to fall into a domestic rut.

Their twentysomething archaeologist son Alex (Luke Ford), meanwhile, is off in China excavating the tomb of its founding monarch, the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li). But this legendary ruler, it seems, is not really dead. Rather, he's the victim of an ancient curse by which a sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) transformed him -- along with his 10,000-strong army -- into the terracotta figures that now adorn his burial place.

An assignment from British Intelligence -- a welcome cure for the boredom of retired life -- sends Alex's parents to Shanghai. They arrive just in time to join forces with Alex, his nightclub-owner uncle, Jonathan (John Hannah), and the sorceress' immortal daughter (Isabella Leong), who quickly catches Alex's eye, in a crusade to prevent the resurrected emperor from reviving his legions to tyrannize the world.

The emperor's not to be so easily thwarted, of course, and the screen is eventually chockablock with sword-swinging, spear-hurling, computer-generated warriors. Along the way, Jonathan, who's given to the occasional mildly ribald joke, has the seat of his pants set afire and falls victim to an airsick yak in the film's heavy-handed attempts at humor.

Director Rob Cohen's breathlessly paced epic is long on special effects and battle sequences and, though short on wit or convincing emotion, does feature respectable family values and, as noted, a positive portrayal of marital partnership. A few gory images aside, the action violence is kept within limits, with almost all the casualties being nonhuman.

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.