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Time to Wrap Up Mummy

Franchise feels distinctly creaky

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 1, 2008 11:52 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is more than a little musty. The third movie in the cycle features "more ancient corpses come to life amid digital effects laid on with a trowel," Jane Horwitz writes in the Washington Post, but the "tiresome and messy" result doesn't measure up to the martial arts and Indiana Jones movies it liberally borrows from.

There are some "undeniably cool CGI effects," Frank Scheck writes in the Hollywood Reporter, but even though Brendan Fraser returns with a swashbuckling presence, he "can't entirely hide the fact that he's cashing a paycheck." In fact, "given the must, dust and rust" coming from this Mummy, it's time for the franchise "to be truly mummified once and for all," Todd McCarthy writes in Variety.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Brendan Fraser, star of "The Mummy" movies, takesquestions from theme park guests before sharing a sneak peak from his new film "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor." (AP Photo/ Universal Orlando, Matt Stroshane)

In this photo provided by Universal, Brendan Fraser returns as explorer Rick O'Connell for an all-new adventure in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". (AP Photo/Universal, Jasin Boland)

Brendan Fraser, left, and Maria Bello pose for the media during a photo call to promote the movie "The Mummy-Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" in Berlin, on Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Miguel Villagran)

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Time to Wrap Up Mummy