Reel critics

Gauze unwinds in ‘Mummy Returns’

Archeologist Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) has a line in “The Mummy

Returns” that pretty much sums up the entire movie: “nothing much --

mummies, Pygmies and big bugs.”

This sequel to 1999’s “The Mummy” brings back all the major

characters: the dashing O’Connell, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn (who visits

sacred tombs in slinky, low-cut tops), John Hannah as her silly brother,

Arnold Vosloo as the big, bald, baddie Imhotep, and Oded Fehr as brooding

Ardeth Bay, sworn to protect whatever needs protecting.

In this installment--I assume there will be more, based on last

weekend’s big box office--several years have now passed, and Rick and

Evelyn are married and parents of a precocious little boy, Alex (Freddie

Boath).

Evelyn finds a sacred box containing a bracelet that belonged to the

fierce warrior Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. “The Rock” of World

Wrestling Federation fame) 5,000 years ago.

Naturally, she and Rick don’t read the dire warning inscribed on the

box before they open it, and so begins “a chain reaction that can bring

about the next apocalypse!” Blah, blah, blah. Do you really care about

the plot? After all, it’s just the special effects that we’ve come to

see.

Imhotep, the mummy of the title, turns out to be something of a wimp.

Upon this return from the dead, his priorities have changed: first

reunite with his lover Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez) and then become

master of the world.

Master thespian “The Rock” reappears -- or at least a hologram of his

face appears -- for the final battle and he is supposed to be awesomely

scary as the giant Scorpion King. Instead, all I could think of was

all-you-can-eat night at Red Lobster.

I’m sure kids will love this movie, but parents may find the sensory

overload tiresome. The campy humor of the original is gone, and the

actors’ roles are secondary to the over-the-top visuals and cartoon-style

action. It’s like a ride at Universal Studios that you’ve ridden

countless times before. You know when that moment is coming that’s

supposed to make you jump.

The funniest moment is when a kidnapped Alex torments his captor by

endlessly asking him, “Are we there yet?” Watching “The Mummy Returns,”

I know just how he feels.

“The Mummy Returns” is rated PG-13.

* SUSANNE PEREZ, 45, lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant

for a financial services company.

Dipping into ‘Golden Bowl’

“The Golden Bowl,” based on Henry James’ novel of the same name, deals

with topics near and dear to his heart: the inescapable necessities for

both love and money.

Inevitably, the need for money, or, perhaps more to the point, the

fear of poverty, proves stronger than the desire for true love.

In the era when James was writing -- 1886 to 1916 -- many members of

the European royalty and upper class found their fortunes shrinking just

as America’s new industrial age began to create its own aristocracy. And

so it is in “The Golden Bowl.”

A penniless Italian nobleman, Prince Amerigo (Jeremy Northam), tells

his beautiful but penniless lover, Charlotte (Uma Thurman), that he must

marry for money or risk losing the family’s estate.

A mutual friend, Fanny Assinghams (Angelica Huston), has introduced

him to Maggie Verver (Kate Beckinsale), the lovely young daughter of an

American millionaire. Maggie also happens to be a close friend of

Charlotte.

The opening credits have barely rolled by before Charlotte is

endearing herself to Maggie’s widowed father, Adam Verver (Nick Nolte).

In case you think you see where the plot is going, I must tell you

that it’s not heading where you might think. The couple who are most

inseparable are . . . but that would be telling.

This complex, Byzantine tale, set in one lush locale after another, is

handled with skill and grace by the director/producer pair of James Ivory

and Ismail Merchant, who gave us “Howard’s End” and “A Room with a View,”

among others.

James was himself an American expatriate who became a British citizen

shortly before his death. The mutual fascination of Europeans and

Americans with one another was a topic that occupied him throughout his

life.

His stories continue to intrigue us, I think, because he found

strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the Atlantic and treated all

with biting honesty and gentle compassion.

“The Golden Bowl” is rated R because of a sex scene.

* JUNE FENNER, a Costa Mesa resident in her late 50s, is vice

president of a work-force training company.