BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: A wicked chain of events finds the corpse of the Mummy Imhotep resurrected in a British Museum, ready to walk the earth once more and determined to fulfill his quest for immortality. But this time, a dueling force of evil has also been set loose in the world... even more powerful than Imhotep. When these two forces clash, the fate of the world will hang in the balance, sending Rick and Evie O'Connell (Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz) on a desperate race to save the world from unspeakable evil, and rescue their son, before it's too late.

FILM REVIEW: The technique and execution of this big-budget sequel to The Mummy is much slicker and precise than that original film, but somehow the story has lost some of its novelty; it's got some very entertaining sequences and the characters from the first film are just as admirable as before, and the idea of the Scorpion King is a fresh injection of creativity. However, unlike the first film where we were put on an Indiana Jones style journey into myth and legend, this one is more a straight out monster movie with big action sequences. And the visual effects this time, despite the bigger budget, look a little hokey, especially compared with the first film (the rendering of the Scorpion King in the climax looks very plastic and unreal). Overall, it's a solid, entertaining follow-up to the original film but somehow it doesn't quite deliver on the novelty the first film did so well.

The story picks up nine years later; Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Evie (Rachel Weisz) are now married and have a kid Alex (Freddie Boath). We see them on an archaeological site in Egypt where Evie uncovers artefacts relating to the Scorpion King, a warrior from 5,000 years ago who attempted to conquer the known world but could only do it with the help of the dark God of Anubis who took his soul in exchange for his help. They uncover the Scorpion King's bracelet. Meanwhile, the followers of Imhotep are busy trying to get him resurrected and are able to succeed. Aware of the Scorpion King's power, Imhotep decides to try and defeat him and steal his power, but only Rick and Evie stand in his way.

"The Mummy Returns" features some exciting sequences. The opening prologue which introduces the Scorpion King is big, bold and colourful. The chase sequence through London streets on a double-decker bus with Imhotep's priest in hot pursuit is quite exciting, as is a number of other sequences including the climax where the Scorpion King's pyramid collapses on itself. However, there's also repetition. The wave of sand with Imhotep's face in it from the first film is replayed again but this time with a wall of water. There's also conveniences to the plot; Evie is able to be resurrected after she is killed by AnckSuNamun (Patricia Velasquez), Lock-Nah (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) miraculously appears at the end with his blimp to pluck our heroes off the self-destructing pymarid before it collapses on itself. Maybe it was just the way it was done but all of these things are just not as well integrated in to the story as they were in the first film, or maybe they've just lost their novelty. Either way, they work in of themselves, but are not fresh and in some places, just some contrived.

Arnold Vosloo as the Mummy does another great acting job, particularly with his interaction with the various visual effects (and at times, when he is himself a visual effect). Although some of the other effects are poor, the team at ILM have actually improved the Mummy, providing much more detail and interaction in to his design. Even his high priests are well rendered, and one spectacular shot sees Imhotep resurrect his priests and we see him open a big vase with sand erupting from within it, coming together to form his mummy priests.

The Rock (aka Dwayne Robinson) has an extended cameo in this film as The Scorpion King. He is quite effective in the opening prologue as the warrior who leads the armies to conquer the known world. He is unfortunately under-done by some effects work in the finale which is not really up to scratch. As the Scorpion King, he essentially has his head on the body of a scorpion, and the entire thing is done as a computer effect. The body is okay, but the rendering of his face is not particularly really, and lacks a lot of detail and texture (especially when we've already seen his real face at the beginning of the film). This denigrates the film somewhat because it looks exactly like a wannabe visual effect rather than a threatening, all-power God-like figure.

I'm not sure I liked the idea of how our hero characters were themselves somehow connected to the myths of the past. Evie is introduced to be the resurrected Princess Nefertiti who is at odds with AnckSuNamun, who is also resurrected in this story as Meela Nais, who helps to get Imhotep resurrected. Rick is suddenly inferred to be one of the Pharoah's sacred bodyguards. It's all very arbitrary and makes the characters less accessible than before (ie in the first film they were like us in the audience making them better to identify with, whereas in this film, they're not like us at all).

"The Mummy Returns" is very entertaining and for the most part is a visual feast, but it's story is not as strong as the first film and it's under-done by some lame effects work in the finale.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: As with the first film, the video transfer of "The Mummy Returns" is first rate; the picture is colourful, rich and vibrant while still remaining crisp without any mpeg or film artefacts. The soundtrack is spectacular and can be used as a reference disc to fully test out your surround sound system, particularly in the action sequences (for me, the gun shots in the double-decker bus chase crystalise the clarity of the sounds). This 2-disc edition also contains a DTS surround sound option for those of you with DTS receivers. Make sure you crank the volume up because your walls will shake! Overall, a spectacular transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extras collection on this disc are a bix of a mixed bag. Given this is a 2-disc edition, and the first Mummy film was crammed on to one disc with a great collection of extras, this collection has a couple of good extras but the rest seem to be promoting other things, such as the spin off sequel "The Scorpion King" and a look at what looks like a "Mummy Returns" ride. Let's start with what worked. The audio commentary by Director Stephen Sommers and Editor Bob Ducsay is highly entertaining and informative. I loved the moment when they were quoting film critic Roger Ebert and made the suggestion that he watch the film again to truly understand what audience "The Mummy Returns" was made for. There's a 20-minute 'spotlight on location' featurette which gives a brief overview of the making of the film, and features some cast and crew interviews. And like the DVD from the first film, we have a deconstruction of certain visual effects sequences. But after we get the trailer, subtitles, Egypt text facts and production notes, we're left with extras promoting "The Scorpion King" - an interview with The Rock and a selection of footage from the film, a Mummy Returns Playstation 2 game trailer, and an ad for the Mummy Returns Chamber of Doom. I would have liked a more extensive documentary rather than these latter extras; thankfully the audio commentary is as entertaining and informative as it is otherwise we would have had a collection of extras without much substance. Overall, it's good, but should have been better given this is a 2-disc edition.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth having in the collection.