MUMMY, THE - DVD review

When I was in elementary school, I went through my "Egyptian phase" (I've had "Roman," "Chinese," "German," and "Russian" phases as well). Anyway, I became obsessed with anything pertaining to ancient Egypt. It was the coolest thing reciting the names of Egyptian gods and enumerating their powers. What other culture had a Ra, a Seti, a Ramses, and an Upper Kingdom that, geographically speaking, is actually situated below the Lower Kingdom? (This has to do with the way the Nile River flows northward from inland Africa towards the Mediterranean Sea).

Of course, central to Egyptian society was the concept of mummification. There's nothing in the world quite like Egyptian mummification, so British explorers carted ancient treasures and artifacts back to the British Museum. A lot of hieroglyphic inscriptions bore curses, and, indeed, the fellows who discovered King Tut's (Tutankhamen) tomb all met mysterious, untimely deaths. I'm sure that the events surrounding King Tut had some sort of influence on Universal Studios's original "The Mummy," starring Boris Karloff. The original film spawned four sequels.

Six decades later, it seems like Universal is not done with this franchise. At once a remake and a re-working of the 1932 original, the 1999 version of "The Mummy" stars Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell, a soldier of fortune who, as is always the case, is more human and caring than he pretends/wants to be. Rick helps Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) find the lost city of Hamunaptra. When they reach the forgotten city, they accidentally re-awaken a long-ago mummified priest named Imhotep.

Imhotep is mighty angry. You see, he was given the "Hom-Dai," the worst punishment possible, for his transgressions against a Pharaoh. However, the curse also gives him extraordinary powers should he be revivified. Imhotep immediately sets out to wreak havoc on everybody, and it's not a pleasant business. With him comes the ten plagues and a smattering of ILM special effects. What else did you expect from a 3,000 year-old mummy who wants to bring back his former flame?

Brendan Fraser has always had a very quirky acting style, and his hilarious take on playing a hero far outshines the usual sullen anti-hero that we get so often these days. I hate characters who are heroes but wander around moping about their heroic stature. I prefer heroes who rise to the occasion, facing challenges without complaints, thank you very much.

Also, to my delight, Rachel Weisz genuinely surprised me. I thought that she was awful in "Chain Reaction," and I had given up on Weisz after seeing her as some sort of "local expatriate slut" in "Stealing Beauty." Here, she exhibits a silly charm that allows her to play off of Fraser very well. Weisz is almost as good here as in the more recent "Enemy at the Gates."

I had a jolly good time watching "The Mummy." It is a silly, grand, high-flying adventure. I had a dumb grin on my face throughout its two-hour running time, and I couldn't help but think how the energy of the actors made this already-exuberant film that much more enjoyable. I must admit, I loved this movie for accomplishing what Hollywood ought to be doing with every release--entertaining audiences to no end.

In anticipation of the theatrical run of "The Mummy Returns," Universal has re-packaged the now-discontinued widescreen and Pan&Scan releases of "The Mummy." The previous two versions shared the same bonus materials, differing only in the way the video image was presented. This new "Ultimate Edition" arrives as a two-disc set that offers quite a few new things to entice consumers to repurchase "The Mummy" (it even has a movie voucher that essentially gives you two weeks to go see "The Mummy Returns" for free). Given the exhaustive nature of the "Ultimate Edition" DVD, it'll be easier, more informative, and less confusing for me and for you if I write about each disc separately.

--Disc One--
Video:
Cinema has long had a love/hate relationship with the desert. From "Lawrence of Arabia" to "The English Patient," the desert has always given film crews a bitch of a time, destroying equipment, holding up shooting, and even threatening the very lives of the filmmakers. However, few things turn up so well on camera as the desert. Perhaps this has to do with the poetic lyricism of an environment so forbidding to humans. At any rate, the anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) video of "The Mummy" looks breathtakingly alive. The strong colors of the burning sun and scorching sands of this production practically set fire to your TV set and your room. There are moments where a little dirt and some scratches crop up, but few transfers look as good as this one. The image benefits from the fact that the director and his cinematographer sure know how to fill a panoramic image.

Audio:
The audio options on this release can be a bit confusing as you don't get the same tracks on both discs. On disc one, you can opt to watch the film in either Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 (English). The DTS track is new to "The Mummy" on DVD. The soundtrack engulfs the viewer in a smorgasbord of sonic detail and delights. Since this adventure film takes place in a variety of settings, the audio goes through a wide range of elements. The disc handles every silent whisper and every bombastic explosion with equal aplomb. Directionality effects, like the tone of the film itself, are just plain fun. I would rate the audio a bit higher were it not for the fact that the track isn't as innovative as something like the ones for "Saving Private Ryan" or "Titanic." (English closed captions, French subtitles, and Spanish subtitles are available.)

Extras:
You can also choose from three audio commentaries. The first commentary is a carryover from the previous DVDs--a commentary with the director and the editor. The other two commentaries are new additions: one features star Brendan Fraser, and the other features actors Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor and Arnold Vosloo. The one with Fraser is by far the most entertaining commentary track. He has this dopey, goofy charm that sent me into hysterics constantly.

To round out the first disc, you get the "Building a Better Mummy" mini-documentary, "Cast and Crew" and "Production Notes" text pages, and "Egyptology 101" trivia text pages. These are all carryover elements from the previous DVDs. The documentary is one of the longer documentaries (almost an hour) available on DVDs. As such, it is far more substantive than other programs of this nature, giving an in-depth overview of the ILM special effects created for this film.

--Disc Two--
Video:
Terrifyingly enough, Universal saw fit to port over the Pan&Scan
transfer of "The Mummy" as well. I couldn't bear to watch this extremely cropped version of the film (I raced through some of the chapters in order to gauge the effectiveness of the audio on the second disc). The picture quality of the Pan&Scan transfer is pretty high, but the cropping is so severe that not only do you lose out on the peripherals of the film composition, you also get too close to the objects being filmed. The Pan&Scan feels uncomfortably tight.

Audio:
You can watch the Pan&Scan version with your choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 English or French. The previous DVDs had French only in DD 2.0 Surround, so French-language viewers can get that 0.1 bass feed now. These soundtracks are pretty much identical to the ones on the first disc. A new Spanish DD 2.0 Surround has been thrown onto disc two for good measure as well. Only English captions are available on disc two.

Extras:
Returning from the previous releases are the "Visual and Special Effects" presentation (viewers select from a list of effects shots, and they get to see how the shots were created), three deleted scenes that are very worth watching, and the film's
theatrical trailer (non-anamorphic widescreen, DD 5.1).

New to "The Mummy" are the "Storyboard to Final Film" comparisons for three scenes, a photograph montage set to Jerry Goldsmith's score, a "Pharaoh Lineage" text timeline, and a commercial for Universal's "The Mummy" PC game. And, to whet your appetite for the sequel that's right around the corner, Universal has included a "Highlights on ‘The Mummy Returns'" featurette. The cast and crew talk about the film but try not to give away too much of the plot. The disc houses the theatrical trailer for "The Mummy Returns" (non-anamorphic widescreen, DD 5.1). I must say, I'll be one of the first in line to see "The Mummy Returns." It looks to be as fun as and even more complex than the first film.

On both discs, you get the same DVD-ROM extras: access to the live web cast of the premiere of "The Mummy Returns," a script-to-film comparison, screen savers, a demo for "The Mummy" PC game, and the entire original 1999 "The Mummy" website. Whew!

A few items found on the first releases of "The Mummy" have been dropped: Jerry Goldsmith's "hidden" isolated score on the language menu page, the teaser trailer, the Universal Showcase trailers for "End of Days" and "For Love of the Game," and the trailers buried in the "cast and crew" pages ("Gods and Monsters" was in Fraser's bio; "Darkman II" was in Vosloo's).

Entertainment Value:
I have some reservations about Universal's "Ultimate Edition" presentation of "The Mummy." I wanted to rate the Extras higher ("eight" instead of "seven"), but the two-disc package could've been better managed. Although Universal has been a heavy when it comes to special editions, the people who plan its DVDs sometimes don't have their heads screwed on right. All the proper materials are here, but the discs don't come out perfectly.

First of all, why in the world would we need the Pan&Scan version? If the studio wished to cater to the Pan&Scan market, they should've kept the single-disc version available. That way, the studio could've moved ALL the supplements onto the second disc while moving the French and Spanish language tracks onto the first disc.

Incidentally, by shifting the logistics of the way the material is encoded on the discs, perhaps the good folks at Universal could've upped the bit rates and lessened the compression of the video/audio information. I mean, really, that Pan&Scan version (not to mention the redundant DD 5.1 English track) on the second disc takes up precious gigabytes of space. Instead of the Pan&Scan, Universal should've included the teaser trailers for "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" in order to make this edition feel more "definitive."

I must say that I was disappointed that Rachel Weisz does not appear in any of the audio commentaries. "The Mummy" may be an action/adventure story that skews to male audiences, but one of the pleasures in watching this film is seeing how a plucky heroine plays with the boys on equal footing. Weisz's take on the film would've been very welcome.

Finally, what sense does it make to have French/Spanish audio tracks on the second disc and not include the subtitles in those languages that are on the first disc? Some people like to watch movies with subtitles/captioning because there are times when audio effects can distort or even bury dialogue. I'm sure that there are French/Spanish-speaking viewers who would like to be able to hear AND read while watching a movie. Ideally, there should be subtitle streams for whatever language audio track is encoded on a DVD (extra subtitle options are always welcome, of course).

These are relatively minor issues if you think about how comprehensive, informative, and time-consuming this release can be. After all, for fans of the film, it is easy to get lost in the world of "The Mummy" simply by listening to all three audio commentaries (more than six hours!!!). Heck, this DVD offers so much that it has prompted me to write my longest review, ever. My hope is that Universal will learn its lessons from this release of "The Mummy" and avoid the same errors with future "Ultimate Editions."

"The Mummy" is an update of the super-fun, super-exhilarating adventure swashbucklers of yesteryears. This is not great cinema, but it does offer two solid hours of laugh-out-loud moments and sunny smiles. If you already have a copy of "The Mummy," then it's hard to recommend getting the "Ultimate Edition" when most of the essential extras are already on the first release. However, if you haven't bought it yet, the "Ultimate Edition" will be the only version you can buy for the time being. Either way you look at it, though, "The Mummy" remains a great buy on DVD.