Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Mummy Returns, The
Universal Pictures


6.5

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 42 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for adventure action and violence

Starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Freddie Boath, and Patricia Velazquez

Deep within a shadowy chamber in the British Museum of London, an ancient force of terror is about to be reborn. It is 1933, the Year of the Scorpion. Eight years have passed since dashing legionnaire Rick O'Connell (Fraser) and fearless Egyptologist Evelyn (Weisz) fought for their lives against a 3000-year-old enemy named Imhotep (Vosloo). (Universal Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Stephen Sommers
DIRECTED BY:	Stephen Sommers
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 2, 2001 Video: October 2, 2001 Theatrical: May 4, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	125 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

What matters is that the movie's a blast, right up until its protracted climax.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

There's much mumbo-jumbo about past lives and symbolic tattoos, but who cares when you can gaze at a sight as lovely as a dirigible floating in the night sky?

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Both pleasantly old-fashioned and packed with up-to-date computer-generated special effects, the film's constant plot turns, cheeky sensibility and omnipresent action sequences have no trouble attracting our attention and holding on.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Virtually bursts with visual goodies, and writer-director Stephen Sommers scarcely allows the actors, or the audience, a moment to take a breath during the nonstop action of the final hour.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Sommers is a pure pop Steven Spielberg who's put his deft technical skills in the service of the ultimate rollercoaster movie ride. It's sometimes more exhausting than exciting.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

So gleefully abandons any semblance of sanity that it's virtually impossible not to enjoy the sheer breadth of nonsensical fun taking place on screen.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Although the sequel retains its predecessor's breezy retro spirit, The Mummy Returns is a mite darker and scarier and the effects a little spiffier.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Action junkies may enjoy this non-stop barrage, which barely pauses for anything but the most rudimentary (albeit complicated) plot exposition.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Perfectly enjoyable swashbuckling, eye-catching entertainment.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The movie resembles a video game in which each victory whisks you to the next level, with slightly different antagonists and a faster pace.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

It's all very impressive without being particularly enthralling.

Film.com Sean Means

Mostly he's (Fraser) trapped in a sequel that's too wrapped up in a desire to top itself.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The actors themselves are more rip roaring and full of spunk than in their first outing.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

So action-packed from start to finish that the final result is grating rather than thrilling.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Everything the first "Mummy" was fun for not being. It's loud and chaotic, jammed with effects that don't wow us precisely because they are trying so hard to wow us.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The mistake of The Mummy Returns is to abandon the characters, and to use the plot only as a clothesline for special effects and action sequences.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

More emphasis on computer-generated gimmickry than on persuasive acting and ideas.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

First and foremost a trial run for a Universal Studios ride.

Slate David Edelstein

A few billion 1s and 0s in search of a movie.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

If you liked the earlier ''Mummy,'' you'll probably like this one. In fact, at many points you'll probably think you are watching the earlier one.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The noisome action sequences of The Mummy Returns are preferable to the quiet times, when the cast is limited to spouting dialogue that is a banal combination of exposition and homily.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It works its gilded butt off to give you your money's worth.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Suffers from the bloat common to sequels.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The Mummy was certainly no "Raiders," but as far as summer movies go, it was just good enough.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

You can't see the movie for the footage, so thick is it with digital tricks and furious action.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

This frenzied sequel has all of the clank but none of the swank of the previous version.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

This might all have been silly fun -- as it was in the 1999 version -- except for the carelessness of the whole picture.

Washington Post Curt Fields

Fraser is likable enough, albeit never quite convincing as an action hero.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Many of the visual effects are stunning, but others are downright cheesy -- especially an attempt to fuse the Rock's head onto a scorpion's body.

New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky

It punishes rather than entertains; it condescends, it offends, it loathes its audience.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

We have to suffer through two hours of this rancid summer cheese.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David D gave it a3:
Again, I hated the "good guys". I so wanted them dead!! The same ole crap with a kid being a total annoying little loser.

[Anonymous] gave it a6:
More of the first movie, but dumber. Not outright bad, but the movie fails to make itself feel needed.

Zachary W. gave it a 9:
The Mummmy Returns special effects are awesome and movie was excellent, but they should have gotten rid of the not needed scenes. All together it was an excellent movie. A+

Pat C. gave it a 2:
Takes off where "The Mummy" left off: Starts at the bottom and goes down.

Dave C. gave it a 5:
Indiana Jones rip-off part 2. Utterly inane and braindead, but worth watching for its willingness to poke fun at itself, resulting in some hilarious scenes.

Michelle P. gave it an 8:
I LOVED this movie. And I'm usually really picky about these kind of movies. But I only recommend it to fans of Egyptian mythology, like me. :)

Don P. gave it a 0:
Idiotic.

Mummy Returns, The Universal Pictures

Mummy Returns, The
Universal Pictures