Parents' Guide to

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Violent action sequel should've stayed buried.

Movie PG-13 2008 119 minutes
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 8 parent reviews

paulamdf
paulamdf Parent of 11 and 12-year-old
March 17, 2023
age 14+

No estoy de acuerdo con la calificación de Common Sense indicando que no hay nada de sexo o desnudez. Hay varias imágenes con insinuaciones. Nada grave pero no para niños pequeños desde luego. Es erróneo lo que indica Commonsense. Me fié de eso y me arrepentí.

fahimforid
fahimforid Adult
December 19, 2020
age 13+

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
See all 8 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In the third film in the Mummy franchise, Rick and Eveyln O'Connell (Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello, who took the role over from Rachel Weisz) are living a life of bored luxury in 1946 England -- until they're asked to personally escort a priceless crystal back to China. They don't know that their 21-year-old son, Alex (Luke Ford), is also in China on a dangerous expedition, instead of in college as they believed. Soon after they meet up, all three O'Connells must try to stop the crystal from awakening the ancient terra cotta army and its ruthless leader, the Dragon Emperor (Jet Li).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8):
Kids say (16):

The first two Mummy movies were far from action masterpieces, but when you compare them to THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, they seem like Oscar contenders. Without director Stephen Sommers at the helm and Weisz playing Evie, the new movie lacks the central chemistry that made the first two films charmingly bearable. Although it's always a pleasure to see Li and Michelle Yeoh (who plays a witch who cursed the emperor and his army to their stone tombs) show off their considerable martial arts skills, the action sequences are cribbed from parts of The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean (note to action directors: undead skeleton armies are officially passe).

Although the battle scenes are what most moviegoers crave, that's no excuse for sloppy dialogue and poor acting. Why young newcomer Ford thinks a pseudo-Bronx accent peppered with his native Aussie cadences is what the son of a rich American and his educated English wife would sound like is rather misguided and continuously annoying. Fraser, meanwhile, who's proved that he's adept at more than a popcorn blockbuster, phones in a performance so blah that it's hard to believe his character was likable in the first two films. There's no doubt that this movie will attract young audiences desperate for more high-decibel, CGI-heavy violence, but it would've been so much better had this particular Mummy not been unearthed.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether sequels are generally as good as the originals. Can you think of any that are? Does it matter when, as in this case, one of the main actors doesn't come back? Also, the bulk of the film is set in China: How is Chinese culture represented? How does that depiction relate to the time period in which the movie takes place? Did you learn anything about Chinese culture?

Movie Details

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