Synopsis:
The blockbuster global Mummy franchise takes a spellbinding turn as the action shifts to Asia for the next chapter in the adventure series, 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.' Brendan Fraser returns as explorer Rick O'Connell to combat the resurrected Han Emperor (Jet Li) in an epic that races from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas. Rick is joined in this all-new adventure by son Alex (newcomer Luke Ford), wife Evelyn (Maria Bello) and her brother, Jonathan (John Hannah).  And this time, the O'Connells must stop a mummy awoken from a 2,000-year-old curse who threatens to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service.
Doomed by a double-crossing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh) to spend eternity in suspended animation, China's ruthless Dragon Emperor and his 10,000 warriors have laid forgotten for eons, entombed in clay as a vast, silent terra cotta army. But when dashing adventurer Alex O'Connell is tricked into awakening the ruler from eternal slumber, the reckless young archaeologist must seek the help of the only people who know more than he does about taking down the undead: his parents.
As the monarch roars back to life, our heroes find his quest for world domination has only intensified over the millennia. Striding the Far East with unimaginable supernatural powers, the Emperor Mummy will rouse his legion as an unstoppable, otherworldly force...unless the O'Connells can stop him first. Now, in 'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,' the trademark thrills and visually spectacular action of the Mummy series will be redefined for a new generation.
'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' is helmed by director Rob Cohen ('The Fast and the Furious,' 'xXx') and written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar ('Spider-Man 2,' television's Smallville). Reprising their roles as producers in the series are Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel, Stephen Sommers and James Jacks.
CMC Review: By Aaron M. Rodriguez
 As expected, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was a thrill ride of sorts coupled with funny one-liners and cool special effects. In short, this sequel conveyed the essential qualities of the mummy films before it – a powerful man of ancient origins is involved in a love triangle and experiences an untimely death only to be resurrected by an act of misguidance many generations later that puts the world at risk of being completely enslaved. Unlike its predecessors, this classic tale of good versus evil begins in ancient China as a greedy king (Jet-Li) aspires to conquer the known world, but must first seek immortality because the limited span of human life is too short to meet his ambitious goals. Double-crossed by a good witch (Michelle Yeoh), the Han Emperor and his massive army are cursed to spend an eternity suspended as clay statuary.
While evil men plot to resurrect the Dragon Emperor, Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frasier) and his wife Evelyn (newcomer Maria Bellow) are trying to enjoy the monotonous solitude of their retirement. It’s been a decade since their last earth-saving adventure, and apparently the couple isn’t good at concealing their itch for some action. Easily lured into Shanghai by the mere proposal of an adventure, the O'Connells coincidently bump into their son Alex (Luke Ford), who is supposed to be finishing college rather than dropping out to mastermind a great archeological dig. In Jonathan's (John Hannah) Egyptian themed nightclub, the O’Connell family is betrayed and an ancient emperor is freed from his 2,000-year-old curse. From henceforward, the film is complete with non-stop action scenes, fast paced chases, and explosive sequences until the final battle is waged between the Dragon Emperor and the O'Connell boys.
Being a sucker for action/adventure films, I must say I was entertained. However, there were some serious shortcomings to this movie. I'll break it down based upon film characters.
  First, Maria Bellow (featured to the left) replaced Rachel Weisz (featured to the right) as Rick O’Connell’s wife, Evelyn. This was a mistake. Brendan Fraser (39) looks to be in early 30s and Maria Bellow looks like she’s in her late 40s, possibly early 50s. She also had a heck of a time managing her English accent, which sounded outright annoying at times. There was also the real difficulty for her to pull off the sweet and innocent persona mastered so effortlessly by Rachel Weisz in the earlier films. Ultimately, her role was a distraction and more of a setback for the movie then a plus.
Second, Jet-Li was seriously underutilized. He is Hollywood’s foremost martial arts expert, yet his art was limited to an introductory part of the storyline and the grand finale-fight sequence with the O’Connells. Most scenes involving Jet-Li featured him shape-shifting into different beasts or demonstrating his god-like powers over nature. In my opinion, computer generated special effects are more aptly applied to characters of limited abilities, not to stars that can light up the big screen with dazzling martial arts choreography.
Third, Luke Ford (27) (featured below) played Rick O’Connell’s son, Alex. Again, this father/son rendition was difficult to pull off since Ford and Fraser are only fourteen years apart. It was odd and little distracting, but workable with a little suspension of reality nonetheless.
 And fourth, there seemed to be too many plots occurring during the movie. Starting from the beginning, we have a triangular relationship between Emperor Han, Witch Zi-Juan, and General Yang. After this, we have the O’Connell couple tackling the issue of retirement and what seemed like empty nest syndrome. We also have Alex O’Connell developing a gradual romance with the Witch’s daughter Lin. Then we have Evelyn’s brother Jonathan thrown into the mix as an entrepreneur turned Beijing nightclub owner. And since General Yang was kept in the past, a new General emerges with his own soldiers trained to protect the newly resurrected Emperor. There was a hodgepodge of relationships that made the film seem too busy.
The sexual content of the film was modest and limited to the Beijing nightclub featuring girls in skimpy clothing. Violence was somewhat constant, but not very graphic in nature. Language was limited to a few expletives and was fairly tame according to Hollywood standards. There is some glamorization alcohol at the nightclub, and a scene where characters talk about drinking at the nightclub later on. As the adventure takes place in China, there were really no biblical parallels worth noting.
Overall CMC Rating: 73/100
- Entertainment Value: 15/25
- Violence: 11/15
- Language: 17/20
- Sexual Content: 18/20
- Drugs and Alcohol: 7/10
- Worldview/Message: 5/10
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