Movie review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is the third "The Mummy" movie starring Brendan Fraser. While the first two took place where you would expect to find mummy's, this one takes place in China. Some will take issues with this, but I don't. Living-dead creatures don't actually exist, after all. Right??? ;-)

Has it was said before by Rick O'Connell, our hero and again this time, "Here we go again!". Bringing the story to China was one way of making something old new again. Somewhat. I wouldn't call it entirely new, but it does bring new elements to the story, between battles with decayed walking corps. It also brings Jet Li as the Dragon Emperor and Michelle Yeoh as Zi Juan, a witch who once magically imprisoned the Emperor and, due to a certain digging expedition, will need to do deal with him again. But this time, he must be killed, so he can't come back again. I won't tell you if this succeed, as I do not want to insult your intelligence...

Evelyn O’Connell is back as Rick's wife, but is played by Maria Bello this time around. I guess Rachel Weisz was not interested in another easy blockbuster movie. On the other hand, John Hannah is back as Jonathan Carnahan, who happens to have moved to China to get away from those darn mummy's... New to the main cast is Luke Ford, as Alex O'Connell (Rick's son) and Isabella Leong, as Lin (Zi Juan's daughter). Both kids are following their parent's path in live, respectively.

I liked the movie for what it is, a fun summer ride with great special effects (while not always perfect) and a comical undertone. As can be seen in the trailer, there is a lot of mummy's to be seen, as well as a few Yetis. If this movies makes enough money, then there could be a fourth one coming, but I think it may be a good idea to keep it as a trilogy, before they start to spread this franchise too thin... We'll see.

Movie review: Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D

I wasn't expecting too much from Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, beyond a fun ride and nice visuals. The movie was fun in that way, except that it was partly ruined by the 3D technology part. I don't know if I was sitting too close to the screen or if my eyes did not adapt properly to their technology, but it looked really bad. I barely got the 3D effect in a few shots, most of them being out of sync. The close up in particular did not work at all, as I saw two separated images and the colours did not match properly because of this as well. Just one or two images out of sync from the two projections would probably cause the same issue. I went to see it alone, so I couldn't compare my experience and I didn't check with the other people in the room either, as I am a bit shy. I hope this was an exceptional problem, because I can't imagine why they would use this technology if it's not working properly. I saw an Imax 3D movie not too long ago and it looked great, so I doubt it's me.

What's more, the movie theatre I saw it at, the Guzzo at Marché Central, in Montreal, charged $3 extra for the glasses rental, on top of asking for an ID card they kept as hostage to insure they get them back! And we had to sign a piece of paper too. There were 3D previews before the movie, and they looked better than the movie itself, while not perfect, so I'll take a chance and try again with another movie, most likely, but I can't say I'm that anxious to try again. Note to the studios: Use Imax 3D or make sure the theatres you let use this new technology are properly tested and trained.

Had it not been for the disappointment noted above, I would surely have enjoyed this movie much more. The story is interesting, the visuals are probably very nice without the bad 3D and the actors do a good job. As can be seen in the trailer and implied in the title, our "heroes" go to the centre of the Earth to discover an old lost world. Of course, one must completely let go of reality to accept how they enter and exit that world, let alone accept the complexity of a world such as this one, so deep under the surface. But it's fantasy and it's fun to relax your brain from time to time.

The movie stars Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem, as well as shorter roles with Seth Meyers and a few others. There are many funny scenes, lots of action and a bit of romance. So, a nice summer pop-corn movie if you like adventure and nice endings. It is not only inspired by the Jules Verne's work of the same name, it is referred to in the movie.

If you do see the 3D version, I'd like to know how it went for you and where you saw it. I just can't accept it can be this bad everywhere...