The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)    Universal/Fantasy-Action-Adventure    RT: 111 minutes    Rated PG-13 (adventure action and violence)    Director: Rob Cohen    Screenplay: Alfred Gough    Music: Randy Edelman and John Debney    Cinematography: Simon Duggan    Release date: August 1, 2008 (US)    Cast: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, Michelle Yeoh, Liam Cunningham, Anthony Wong, Jessey Meng, Russell Wong, David Calder.    Box Office: $102.4M (US)/$401.1M (World)

Rating: ***

 The title The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a dead (or is it undead?) giveaway of what to expect from this third entry in the series that started in 1999 with a loose remake of the original 1932 film. It has a mummy, a tomb, a dragon and an emperor in it. It also has a terracotta army, an immortal sorceress, Yetis and a gem called “The Eye of Shangri-La” that contains a liquid substance called “The Elixir of Life”. Also, our intrepid heroes make a stopover in Shangri-La yet somehow never encounter Ronald Colman or Jane Wyatt from Lost Horizon. Given this movie’s level of absurdity, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if they did.

 I seem to recall not liking The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor when I saw it at the movies. I must have been in a bad mood that night. As such, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it on my second viewing this past weekend. Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) takes over directing duties from Stephen Sommers and does a good job of it with this fast-paced, funny adventure flick. I swear, Cohen has a thing for dragons. His previous credits include the biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) and the sword-and-sorcery flick Dragonheart (1996). What’s next, a remake of Dragonslayer?

 While The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a big improvement over The Mummy Returns, it’s just as silly and incoherent as the others. This time, the story opens in ancient China where a tyrannical warlord (Li, Lethal Weapon 4) becomes “The Dragon Emperor” which gives him power over the five elements- fire, water, earth, wood and metal. I thought the last two were air and Milla Jovovich, but whatever. He also orders the construction of the Great Wall under which he buries and curses his enemies. This guy wants it all apparently; he summons the sorceress Zi Yuan (Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… hey, there’s that mythical creature again!) to grant him immortality. She turns him into a mummy instead, imprisoning him in a sarcophagus in a tomb along with his entire army which she turns into terracotta. Why is she so pissed at him? He killed her secret lover General Ming (Wong, New Jack City) as revenge for her rejecting his advances.

 Now that was just the backstory. The main story takes place circa 1946-47. Rick (Fraser) and Evie O’Connell (now played by Maria Bello) are retired from the mummy-killing game. She’s written a couple of books about their adventures, but can’t come up with a story for a third novel. He tries his hand at fishing, but that doesn’t go so well. They’re approached by the British government to smuggle the Eye of Shangri-La into China. Sure, why not? It’ll give them an excuse to visit her brother Jonathan (Hannah) who now runs a nightclub in Shanghai.

 Meanwhile, their now-grown son Alex (Ford, Animal Kingdom) is having an adventure of his own. Unbeknownst to his parents, he’s dropped out of college to go on an archeological expedition with family friend, Professor Roger Wilson (Calder, The World Is Not Enough). They locate the tomb of the Dragon Emperor and….. you know what, let’s just cut to the chase. The Dragon Emperor is reawakened and it’s up to our heroes to stop him from taking over the world with his army of 10,000 spear-carrying soldiers made of terracotta. Somehow, this involves going to Shangri-La.

 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a fun Indiana Jones/Army of Darkness type adventure in which the heroes explore tombs, survive deadly booby traps and face-off against a three-headed dragon. Apparently, the emperor can shapeshift and chooses the form of a three-headed CGI dragon. I could sit here and comment on the acting (which is pretty good for a movie like this), the screenplay (another confused mess) and the special effects (they’re pretty good for CGI) but I’m not going to waste your time on things that don’t really matter. Such things are trivial and insignificant in a movie entitled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

 What is important is whether or not it’s fun. It is! It has a lot of action. It’s funny, sometimes it’s even intentional. It has romance too. Alex falls for Lin (Leong, Dragon Squad and Dragon Tiger Gate), daughter of Zi Yuan, also immortal. She doesn’t want to start a relationship for the usual reasons- i.e. she doesn’t want to watch him die. The sets and costumes are great. The only weak element is Bello who lacks the spunk originally brought to the role by Rachel Weisz who turned down the opportunity to reprise her role. Other than that, I really have nothing to complain about. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is better than it has a right to be. It has the same fun spirit as a 1940s adventure serial. It never takes itself seriously, why should anybody else? It’s just good dumb summer movie fun.