palabras RODRIGO SALAZAR

Looking over my notes about the latest installment of The Mummy franchise, I was searching for something, anything positive to say about this movie.

There was nothing.

I attribute the success of the Mummy to the fact that Indiana Jones left a huge void in the marketplace for archaeological adventure flicks. The first two Mummys were fun, but no matter what filmmaker Rob Cohen does (I even heard a couple of bars of background music that I swear are straight from the Indy movies), Ricochet O'Conell is no Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones was based on kitschy B movies of the '50s that never took themselves too seriously. Harrison Ford had charisma for days, and he always had a grin that made the audience know that he was in on the joke. Brendan Fraser is no way near as charismatic.

The movie follows Fraser's son, Alex, as he is about to unveil his latest find, the tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The emperor and his army are frozen (and about as alive as the acting is in this movie) and are waiting to be revived to take over the world. Meanwhile, Fraser and his wife are now retired and itching for adventure, so they return to China on one last mission. They cross paths with Alex and the adventure begins as they try to beat the emperor and his evil general to the pool of eternal life.

Maria Bello took over the role of Ricochet's wife Evelyn, but her performance will have you pining for the original Evelyn, Rachel Wiesz. And Luke Ford's portrayal of Alex leaves much to be desired. He seems lost in the undertaking, often delivering his lines as though he was in pain. Jet Li appears to have phoned in his portrayal of the emperor from the set of his next martial arts movie, and it was a bad connection.

The only bright spot was the comic relief that John Hannah infuses into the movie in the role of Evelyn's brother Johnathan Carnahan. It was kind of funny to see him bumble his way through all the CGI. The first couple of times technology was utilized to create armies of thousands of skeleton warriors it was novel and cool--but by the 50th time, you're done with it and would skip the popcorn to pay the extras yourself so you can see actual people fighting instead of what amounts to viewing a video game you can't even play.

My advice? Leave this mummy unwrapped and Netflix the first 2 Indiana Jones movies.

Click here for more info on the The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.