I Love My Mummy

Man, I wish I hadn't read any of the online reviews for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Apparently, it's the worst movie ever made. And there I was, enjoying it and all.

First, the plot: Our heroes, Brendan Fraser and wife (played by Maria Bello this time, not Rachel Weisz), stagnating in the leisure class, jump at the chance to deliver a McGuffin to Shanghai. There, they visit Bello's brother's nightclub (played by a guy who looks like Jonathan Pryce, but isn't). They run into their son, who has been excavating in the Chinese desert. And he's found a mummy.

The mummy turns out to be an ancient Chinese emperor, played by Jet Li, but mostly played by CGI. He starts out as a terracotta statue, ends up as a 3-headed dragon. He is opposed by an ancient witch, played by Michelle Yeoh, with a cute daughter and some Yeti friends.

Now, the problems:

• The family drama is kind of lame: the couple is bored after all their adventures, Mom is over-protective of Son, Dad is distant and withholds praise, yada, yada.
• Jet Li is barely in the movie - his character is mostly CGI. Michelle Yeoh does somewhat better. They have a fight and it is obvious that the director doesn't know what to do with them.
• I was constantly reminded of "better" movies, especially Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In the Chinese nightclub, I kept expecting Kate Capshaw to start singing "Anything Goes" in Chinese. And when they are flying over the Himalayas, I kept expecting them to go sledding in a rubber raft.
  

But who cares? The action scenes were well-done and plenty of them. Brendan Fraser is so appealing, I just love him in anything (including George of the Jungle). Michelle Yeoh is captivating, just gorgeous, even in her small part.

I'm not sure why I liked this overall, but not Hellboy II. Was it really a better movie, or was I just in a better mood?