"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" -- Movie Review

I don't know if you've noticed, but 'mummy' is a ridiculous word -- and hearing it over and over through the course of a near to two-hour movie doesn't do it any favors. That being said, the newest entry in "The Mummy" series manages to be surprisingly entertaining, despite it's nominal hangups.

The previews for "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (man, I love long and overwrought titles) didn't do much to drum up excitement. Maybe it was the massive amount of CG and various over-the-top whatnot. In any event, it turned out there was nothing to worry about. Well, not much.

After some exposition explaining the life, accomplishments, betrayal and death of the titular Dragon Emperor (Jet Li), the film follows the continuing adventures of Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his lovely wife Evelyn (Maria Bello, formerly played by Rachel Weisz) -- or rather, their lack of continuing adventures. Turns out, retired adventure heroes are pretty amusing to watch. So, as the husband and wife deal with the boredom of living in a giant mansion filled with priceless Egyptian treasures, their son Alex (Luke Ford) helps unearth the lost tomb of, well... you probably get it by now.

Parents come to China, Emperor is resurrected as a super-powered, undead man-monster and a fun time is had by all. Car chases, explosions and gunfights become the name of the game pretty fast, and for good reason.

You may know the director, Rob Cohen, from his more recent movies like "Stealth," "XXX" and "The Fast and the Furious." Story takes a backseat to action, and it's better off for it. They're not exactly breaking new artistic ground here. The love story between Alex and the mysterious Lin (Isabella Leong) is your pretty standard action movie romance, and not nearly as entertaining as watching Rick and Evelyn do the whole married, former adventurers thing.

Then, of course, we have Jet Li as the villain and Michelle Yeoh as the immortal witch Zi Yuan, who cursed the Emperor in the first place. Awesome people, and they both do solid work, but we've seen them in masterpieces... and this isn't one.

Then again, Jet Li was in last year's abysmal action flick "War," so I guess it could always be worse.

The effects are, for the most part, supercool -- especially when it comes to the mummified, monstrous, living-statue form of the Emperor. The shape-shifting stuff they throw in later on isn't quite as solid, but then there's the other living statues, the undead army and the gang of yeti... so I'll let it be.

All in all, it was fun. A cool, refreshing return to entertainment after the train-wreck that was the second "X-Files" movie. Not a must-see-in-theaters affair, but a decent popcorn flick and definitely worthy of a small screen viewing once it rolls out into the home market.

3 out of 5

-Thad out.