Brendan Frasier (explorer Rick O'Connell) back in the saddle, so to speak, after a misadventure in Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Loaded with special effects, it's a great adventure, ironically coming on the heels of the Olympics opening in China.
The story goes like this: a white witch puts a spell on a great Chinese emperor two millenia ago, changing him and his vast army into stone, sort of like the famed Terracotta Army discovered in China in 1974.
Rick's son, college drop-out Alex (Luke Ford) is doing some exploring of his own and discovers the entrance to the Emperor's tomb, and, of course, we all what happens - the curse is broken and the Emperor returns to life, though terribly incomplete, and sets out to discover Shangri La and the waters of eternal life, to return him fully to life and awaken his army, and then, if he can cross the Great Wall of China, he and his soldiers will possess untold power to dominate the world ... unless, of course, the O'Connells can stop him with the help of the white which, still alive, of course, and her ageless daughter who ultimately surrenders her immortality to defeat the bad guys.
Alex's father and mother (played fetchingly by Maria Bello) soon join their son in another mummy adventure - with plenty of hair-raising danger, and enough tongue-in-cheek humor to keep it from taking itself too seriously.
All-in-all, a great fun-filled film. Take the family and enjoy. Parents will especially appreciate Rick and Evelyn's interaction with their son - family dynamics and all, parents always remain parents, even as children grow up and cease being children.
As for the fight scenes, of which there are plenty, it's great to see two remarkable Asian stars: Jet Li (the evil Emperor Han) and the ever-beautiful Michelle Yeoh (the white witch Zi Juan).
Isabella Leong, Zi Juan's daughter Lin, becomes Alex's love interest. At one point, she refuses his love, for fear of having to watch him grow old. He wisely observes - "I do it every day with my parents." In the end, she loses her immortality to defeat the Emperor, and so they're likely to live happily ever-after, or at least into next installment, because "mummies have been discovered in Peru."
A great Saturday afternoon entertainment.
