Movie reviews 8/20

I've been to the movies!

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: The O'Connells are back, but Imhotep's not. Instead, Rick and Evie go to China because their son, Alex (now 21), has unearthed a different mummy. This one, played by Jet Li, has an army of terra-cotta warriors and mastery over the elements. So things could get kind of tricky.

While it's not as good as the other two, Mummy 3 has all the trappings of a mindless summer action blockbuster, and it pulls them off with relative ease. Besides, it's got Yetis.

My rating: 7/10

Journey to the Center of the Earth: Brendan Fraser's other mindless summer action blockbuster (but not quite as mindless as Mummy 3). This time he plays an unlucky professor named Trevor whose brother's project is failing. His brother was investigating volcanic tubes in 1997-- when he vanished. But the tubes are real, and when Trevor takes his nephew to investigate an Icelandic sensor, they fall into one and find themselves in an adventure that leaped off the pages of Verne's novel.

Honestly, I didn't expect this movie to be as good as it was, and it turned out to be one of the summer's biggest surprises. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it in 3D, but it seems like it would have worked well in that medium.

My rating: 7.5/10

STAR WARS-- The Clone Wars: Okay, so skeptical doesn't quite cut it. I was more than skeptical about this computer-animated feature. Of course, it had no hype to live up to, so it was an easy feat for it to surpass it. Jabba the Hutt's son is kidnapped, and it's up to the Anakin and his new apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, to rescue it from the clutches of the Separatists, led by Count Dooku and his ruthless, force-sensitive assassin, Asajj Ventress.

For people who say it's too juvenile, watch the original (which I love) again. Some of the dialogue and jokes are so corny, it would almost hurt if you didn't enjoy it so much. STAR WARS is for the kid in all of us, and its essence is captured well in this inatallment. Well, it's more like a really long pilot that lets you know what's in store for the TV series coming out soon. And Kevin Kiner does a pretty good job of emulating, but not imitating, John Williams' powerful score. All in all, a fun way to pass an afternoon, and a nice antidote to The Dark Knight's grim masterpiece.

My rating: 7.5/10