The Mummy

After several consecutive years of lumbering, leaden, self-important summer event movies, it's refreshing to find one that's anachronistically effervescent, 99 & 44/100% pretension-free--arduously striving to dazzle, yes, via the requisite parade of digital wizardry, but also airily hoping to delight. It's no coincidence that our hero (Brendan Fraser, suitably dashing and self-deprecating) summarizes his mission at one point as "rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world." This ostensible remake of the 1932 Karl Freund classic (which bears almost no resemblance to its predecessor) is endearingly retro-dorky (albeit never completely without a faint late-millennial smirk), from the pseudo-ponderous opening narration to the ridiculously florid font in which the Egyptians' subtitles are printed to Rachel Weisz's superearnest, goggle-eyed breathiness. I'm not convinced that colonialism and racism ought necessarily to come with this particular territory--Kevin J. O'Connor's conniving, back-biting Arab lackey is a bit unfortunate, to say the least--and director Stephen Sommers can't remotely match the narrative economy and visual brio of his obvious model, Raiders of the Lost Ark...but, then, neither could Spielberg himself, for that matter, in two subsequent attempts. Good goofy fun, and recommended, especially at the sell-through price. (M. D'Angelo)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—July 8, 2008—Universal, 2 discs, 125 min., PG-13, DVD: $19.98, Blu-ray: $29.98—Making its latest appearance on DVD, and its first appearance on Blu-ray 1999's The Mummy (2-Disc Deluxe Edition) features a great transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. DVD/Blu-ray extras include three audio commentaries (the first with director Steven Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay; the second with star Brendan Fraser; and the last with costars Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor and Arnold Vosloo), a 50-minute “Building a Better Mummy” making-of documentary, 10 minutes of “Visual and Special Effects Formation” scenes, 10 minutes of storyboard to film comparisons, “Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy” (8 min.), “An Army to Rule the World: Part 1” production featurette (4 min.), a sneak peek at the new film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a four-minute photo montage, deleted scenes (2 min.), a text “Egyptology 101” feature, a text pharaoh lineage timeline, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray version is an optional picture-in-picture interactive viewing track with behind-the-scenes footage. Also included is a bonus digital copy of the film. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a popular modern horror-adventure update.]