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The Mummy (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

The Mummy (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It gets better with every viewing.
Review: When I first saw "The Mummy" last year I wasn't impressed. I thought it was a campy "Indiana Jones" ripoff. However, due to the fact that everyone I know loves this movie, I have been since forced to view the film again several times. As it turns out, "The Mummy" isn't all that bad, in fact it's pretty good fun.

The film has good effects, music and the cast have a special chemistry that is important to movies like this. If you see it and don't like it at first, try it again a month or so later and you might be suprised when you find yourself with a goofy smile on your face.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Can you say...........awesome thriller???
Review: I don't care what anyone says about bad-mouthing the movie, "The Mummy." Even if I'm 13, it was a great movie with awesome affects! Then, you got the plot! Stephen Sommers is a genius on making this movie! Brendan Fraiser is an awesome action hero in movies! Some parts in the movie do make you squirm, but still, come on! I can't wait till the sequal "The Mummy Returns" comes out May 11, 2001! Oops, I said to much! Kidding!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very Cheesy
Review: Like the reviews says, if you're looking for a shallow, cheesy movie, this is the movie for you.

Cliches? Check. Annoying bad guy lackey? Double check. Predictable plot, mostly a vehicle for special effects? Check.

I mean, you've got a guy alone in a tunnel, and you need to grab his body, so you just grab his tongue and eyes? Makes for some icky looking scenes as he tries to talk and wanders around blindly with bandages over his eyes, but I can't even begin to understand why, except for the icky scenes. Plus it gives the lackey a chance to show what an evil double crossing lackey he is. That's the sort of movie this is.

It's Indiana Jones without good acting, but on the plus side it has cool special effects.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Would make Indy proud...
Review: First of all, I would like to say that most people today have zero lives but to watch movies all the time and poke fun at their special effects, the scripts, the actors, the location, etc. I am one of those people. I can usually find something wrong with any movie, but not this one. The actors were awesome! Sommers could not have picked better. The script was humorous and when the time was right, crisp, clean, and right to the point. The special effects were cool, and they didn't waste a lot of juju crap and money like some movies today. Now, Brenden Fraser, John Hannah, and Rachel Weisz are some of my thousands of FAVORITE actors!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun and Frivolity!
Review: The Mummy is a remake of the 1932 movie starring Boris Karloff as the title character. Except, this one has really cool special effects to the hilt. In 1932, Boris Karloff walked around REALLY slow, grunted like he was constipated, then he strangled people, again, REALLY slowly, to kill them.

This time around, our mummy can open his mouth very wide, and spew locusts all over Egypt, along with several other annoying plagues. Can you imagine some Egyptian woman, starts yelling at her husband, "BILL! For the last time, put in for that transfer....Yesterday the rivers were blood, today it's raining fire. I can't handle all the plagues around here!"

If you enjoy the Indian Jones trilogy, you'll enjoy The Mummy. Actually, skip the Temple of Doom, that one was a real stinker, but The Mummy falls nicely into the wacky, action flick genre with some archeological fringe for a little depth. I wonder if movies like this one annoy real, honest-to-God archaeologists. I mean, it makes it look like archaeology is a matter of finding a really cool looking map, get yourself to the X, then, with your trusty native sidekick, dig until you find something, like the leafy outfits Adam and Eve wore when they figured out they were naked. I mean, how COOL! If it was that easy, everyone would do it! Hold your horses, the summary is coming up next. The year is 1290 B.C. The High Priest Imhotep and the Pharaoh's main squeeze, Anck-Su-Namun are a little bit too smitten with each other. The Pharaoh finds them, they make like a sushi chef and chop chop, see ya later Pharaoh. But the guards rush in, and Anck-Su-Namun does herself in while Imhotep fleas, vowing to bring her back to life.

As Imhotep is performing his "Bring Girlfriend Back to Life" chant, he and his loyal followers are all mummified and buried. BUT, Imhotep is buried alive along with a lot of really nasty scarabs who lick their chops at the thought of eating a big tasty evil guy. Next comes the "oh, of COURSE" ditty. They put a curse on this guy. And not just any curse, mind you. They put a curse on him which is reserved for the most evil, sinful, wicked baddest dude. It would be a pretty lame movie if he got the curse reserved for the 17th worst guy.

Along with the curse, is the "Don't Wake This Guy Up" clause. Ya know, waking up a mummy can't ever be a good thing. Think about it. You've got your ten plagues, and aside from that, you've got a guy who hasn't seen a bar of soap in 3000 years.

So, what happens? We fast forward to the year 1923. We have the dashing French Foreign Legionnaire Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser), and Evelyn, the little rich girl with the ability to read ancient Egyptian and decipher hieroglyphics. Other members of the wagontrain include: Evelyn's brother who's a lush, a wiry fellow named Beni and some uncouth, rowdy Americans.

This band sets off across the desert to find Hamunaptra, where it is believed that the wealth of Egypt was buried at one time. So whose bright idea was it to also make Hamunaptra the City of the DEAD? Hellooooooo? Think about it first people, I mean, really.

As one would guess, woopsie doodle, somebody opens Imhotep's sarcophagus. Then, well, darn the luck, somebody is accidentally reading that little part in the Black Book of the Dead that brings Mr. Musty back to life.

The thing that's great about this movie, is that all the gore is off-screen. Meaning, you might hear the scream or see the shadow, but not witness the actual removal of someone's eyeballs or what have you. Another great thing, they are way too busy for a gratuitous sex scene. I appreciate an action flick that doesn't have the male and female leads stop and say, "I realize there's a big stinky mummy chasing after us, but let's smooch."

You can watch the movie to catch the rest of the story. The informational stuff is fun. Getting pieces of information to keep you in the story until the climax. The Mummy did that really well, I felt, because historical exposition can be really boring if what you really want to see is a dead guy scaring everyone.

This movie is a lot of fun, the action is quick and the special effects are really cool. There are one-liners galore, they poke fun at Americans, and they make fun of the very genre the movie is. You'll be entertained.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I want my Mummy
Review: Yep, this is one of those other misnamed films like the "Godzilla (1998) ASIN: 0767817478," which could have been called "Lissardus" has no relationship to "Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) ASIN: 6304899963." We could call this movie, "Mummy Dearest" no wait, that tittle is taken, how about "Mr. Sandman" which has no relation to, "The Mummy (1932) ASIN: B00000JQB7." Do not try to tell me that Boris Karloff and Brendan Fraser are doppelgangers.

A reviewer once asked why people keep doing dumb things. Part of the fun is saying, "stay in the car" or in this case "don't read that!" Just because this is not my favorite type of movie does not mean it was not done well for the type. There is always those that want it scarier, better graphics, and with some sort of script. I swear some one would even have Imhotep change his name to Freddie.

I would like to say something negative about this movie. But then why do I keep watching it? I think that once you get past the name thing, this is a fun movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A la Indiana Jones!
Review: I watched The Mummy because first, it looked like an Indiana Jones type of movie & secondly, I like Brendan Fraser. Meeting my two reasons with satisfaction, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film. Brendan was funny & like Harrison Ford, he fought his way through & saved the "damsel in distress" as well as obtained their objective/goal.

The movie has great effects & it would surely bring you on a rollercoaster adventure.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not as good as the original, but stands up well on its own!!
Review: To compare this film with the classic original is, to say the least, like comparing apples and oranges. The 1932 Boris Karloff film is a suspenseful and highly original romantic horror film with depth to spare, while the 1999 version is little more than a high-tech, fun-filled action-adventure fantasy film with a few chills and thrills along the way. But in that it is excellent!

Now be assured that the original accomplishes its goals with a great deal more success than the new film does. While it is a fast-paced, highly imaginative adaptation, whatever heart is left from the original story, tends to be overshadowed by the excessive but typically excellent ILM computer graphics. The script is somewhat weakened by the dialogue which, at times, sounds too modern for the mid- 1920's. But the plot and storyline, which was adapted by director Stephen Sommers, is so involving and the players so appealing you just can't help but get caught up in the atmosphere. And to be honest, it would have been hard if not totally impossible to make a more exact remake of the original that could have stood on its own. The 1932 film was nearly perfect and you can't improve on perfection.

Brendan Fraser cuts a dashing and appealing figure as the typical action-adventure hero definitely in the mold of Indiana Jones. He is matched every step of the way by Rachel Weisz as Evelyn, the librarian turned explorer. Their scenes together show a chemistry that could result in being cast in other movies together. John Hannah as Evelyn's brother Jonathan is once again very appealing. He never fails to impress me with his way of wrapping himself around a character. And Kevin J. O'Connor as weasel Beni is very funny and quite perfect.

Arnold Vosloo paints an entirely different picture as the title character, A.K.A. Im-Ho-Tep. Again, while comparisons with the original should be avoided, I feel compelled to say that Mr. Karloff's performance in the original is an incredibly heartfelt and soulful one. Of all the characters in both films this is the one that should have the most substance. But as depicted in the remake, Im-Ho-Tep is the most superficial of all. Vosloo, largely due to the script and aforementioned computer graphics, has little else to do but bare his rather well-developed chest which, in my humble opinion, is largely the reason for his appeal in this film with so many of the viewers. But his performance is as shallow as they come. Still, he attempts to combine eroticism and sexuality with evil and is at least partially successful.

The editing and photography are superb and the music score by the great Jerry Goldsmith adds a great deal. Director Sommers shows a command for the action-adventure genre that should be explored further in future films and his script blends adventure and comedy beautifully.

The DVD looks and sounds great. Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay provide an informative and very entertaining commentary that really takes you behind the scenes of the making of the film. The other supplements include the usual documentary and deleted scenes. There is also a special section that details how the special and visual effects were created. These features as well as many others make the disc well worth [the price]. But just a word of advice: get the widescreen edition. This film, as well as most other standard editions of films, loses too much when the viewer can only see half the picture.

All in all, THE MUMMY-1999 should stand on its own, separate and apart from the original. For my money, I'll always love the Karloff film more (you can read my review of that one elsewhere at amazon.com), but isn't it nice to know that here the filmmakers were able to take that original premise and craft an enjoyable, fast-paced comedy-fantasy-adventure that works very well. After all, in this case, what more could one ask for!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Mummy
Review: The first time I saw this movie I thought it was not going to be good. Like who wants to see a mummy chase people. But till I saw the whole move it was great. It was filled with action pack adventure and laughter. The Mummy was about a group of people searching for a long-lost treasure but unearthed a 3,000 year old legacy. Now it is going after them since they broke the curse.Do they have time to destroy the mummy before the world comes to an end. This is a good action epic, visual effect, and great story telling. With great actors like Brendan Fraiser, Rachel Weisz,John Hannan,Jonathon Hyde,Kevin J. O'Connor and Arnold Vosloo. This is a great movie to see.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Indiana Jones Lite
Review: The Mummy is, at heart, an adventure serial from the 1930's, which means it is in the same genre as the Indiana Jones films. While it never achieves the excitement and awe that those movies brought to the big screen, it has its moments.

The cast, for the most part, is outstanding. Brendan Fraser plays another variation on his hunky-cartoon persona, swaggering and swashbuckling like an old pro. Rachel Weisz is great as the feisty love interest, sort of a Lara Croft for the 1930's. The chemistry between the two is real, and their dialog is witty and exciting.

Arnold Vosloo makes a somewhat disappointing mummy, however. He never seems very menacing -- largely because he looks more like a high school math professor than a mighty lord of the undead, with his doe eyes and pudgy face.

Whether or not you like the special effects in the film will depend largely on how you feel about computer animation. There are some shots, particularly of the mummy, that look like low-grade "Hercules&Xena" quality effects, a surprise since the effects were done by Industrial Light&Magic. Some of it works, some doesn't, and it all would have looked better with models and makeup (but I'm old fashioned).

Regardless, the movie is cheery, exciting, and fun. There is an element of "Army of Darkness" style camp which is good for laughs, but it also delivers some good old-fashioned thrills and chills.

No one will ever mistake The Mummy for a masterpiece -- it's too slick, too post-modern, and at times embarrassingly silly (like the beginning, where characters stand around spouting plot exposition as if they're pitching us the movie). But it's got moxie and some good thrills and laughs, and is worth repeated viewings.


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