DVD Review: The Mummy Returns Collector's Edition - Page 2

Translated to DVD, Mummy Returns looks fine. While soft with some noticeable grain, compression is held to a minimum even with the heavy color saturation. Black levels are superb, amongst the best on the format. Minor print damage can be seen in the opening half hour, though this stops once past this mark.

The audio presentation is on an entirely different level. This is a demo-worthy disc, filled with crushing bass, outstanding movement in the sound field, and small touches that go a long way towards immersion. A scene which has Weisz moving a torch left to right repeatedly is a perfect example, with the sound of the flame traveling flawlessly between the channels. Scenes depicting thousands of warriors clashing on a battlefield simply offer everything an audio an enthusiast is looking for.

Extras look numerous, with three separate screens to navigate to see them all. Sadly, the majority of these fall into the “complete waste” category or “we’re trying to sell you something.” A commentary with director Stephen Sommers and his producer Bob Ducsay is the first decent feature. They discuss some fantastic details, including how the film came to be and the effects.

Four visual effect breakdowns look at the bigger sequences in the film and how they slowly came together. A wildly fun six minute outtake reel is well worth watching. Production notes are the last gasp of decent extras.

The rest becomes a long, dull promo for a variety of things, including Universal’s The Mummy ride, multiple pieces on the side story movie The Scorpion King and how great it apparently is, a music video, and a Spotlight On Location that aired on TV for the sole purpose of hyping this sequel.

Planned for 2008 is a third Mummy effort, supposedly sans Brendan Fraser in the lead role. This one will star Jet Li, and be set in China instead of Egypt. With the success of the first two films, why change now?

Article Author: Matt Paprocki

Matt Paprocki is a 12-year movie and game critic. He currently freelances for Blu-ray review site DoBlu.com and video game site MultiPlayerGames.com.

Visit Matt Paprocki's author page — Matt Paprocki's Blog