Product Details

• Actors: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O'Connor
• Directors: Stephen Sommers
• Writers: Stephen Sommers, John L. Balderston, Kevin Jarre, Lloyd Fonvielle, Nina Wilcox Putnam
• Producers: James Jacks
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Arabic, English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Pictures
• VHS Release Date: September 28, 1999
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (887 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000JQSW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,170 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If you're expecting bandaged-wrapped corpses and a lurching Boris Karloff-type villain, then you've come to the wrong movie. But if outrageous effects, a hunky hero, and some hearty laughs are what you're looking for, the 1999 version of The Mummy is spectacularly good fun. Yes, the critics called it "hokey," "cheesy," and "pallid." Well, the critics are unjust. Granted, the plot tends to stray, the acting is a bit of a stretch, and the characters occasionally slip into cliché, but who cares? When that action gets going, hold tight--those two hours just fly by.

The premise of the movie isn't that far off from the original. Egyptologist and general mess Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) discovers a map to the lost city of Hamunaptra, and so she hires rogue Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) to lead her there. Once there, Evelyn accidentally unlocks the tomb of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a man who had been buried alive a couple of millennia ago with flesh-eating bugs as punishment for sleeping with the pharaoh's girlfriend. The ancient mummy is revived, and he is determined to bring his old love back to life, which of course means much mayhem (including the unleashing of the 10 plagues) and human sacrifice. Despite the rather gory premise, this movie is fairly tame in terms of violence; most of the magic and surprise come from the special effects, which are glorious to watch, although Imhotep, before being fully reconstituted, is, as one explorer puts it, rather "juicy." Keep in mind this film is as much comedy as it is adventure--those looking for a straightforward horror pic will be disappointed. But for those who want good old-fashioned eye-candy kind of fun, The Mummy ranks as one of choicest flicks of 1999. --Jenny Brown

From The New Yorker

In the nineteen-twenties, in a fabled city in the sands of Egypt, in a hidden tomb, a beefy American adventurer named O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) goes looking for buried treasure. With him are a studious but sultry librarian (Rachel Weisz) and her dim but cowardly brother (John Hannah). We already know that the tomb is booby-trapped by all manner of ancient curses, and, soon enough, the massed ranks of special effects arrive to take revenge. Stephen Sommers's movie has the courage of its own clichés; he piles the silliness on with such speed that you don't have the time to notice how dead and dusty most of his themes are. The characters barely make it to two dimensions, and the Arab figures that crop up at regular intervals are a disgrace; this is the most unapologetically racist comedy that Hollywood has produced in a long while. What redeems it is the presence of Fraser, who is having a ball just now; after his subtle, unshowy performance in "Gods and Monsters," he now successfully demonstrates how to be lusty and affable at the same time. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific movie with a sharp looking transfer, July 23, 2008

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mummy [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

"The Mummy" receives a very nice look Blu-ray transfer for this new edition of the movie. Capturing the adventurous elements of films like "Indiana Jones" and injecting it into the basic story for the 1932 film "The Mummy", Stephen Sommers creates a terrific, enteraining film. For those interested in a synposis of the plot, I'll provide it at the end of the review because you've probably already seen this.

The Blu-ray transfer looks quite good here with bold colors that more closely recall the original theatrical presentation than the DVD. The image is crisp and while there's evidently some digital noise reduction applied, Universal hasn't completely cleaned away all the film grain which is a good thing because when that's done you actually lose sharpness and clarity (it is restored with a loss of detail via Edge Enhancement like the recent reissue of "Patton" which went overboard with digitally cleaning up the film). The best thing that Universal could have done here was to leave the grain intact and dispense with the Edge Enhancement. I suspect that the same source was used for the Blu-ray as was used for the HD-DVD edition but that the Edge Enhancement is more transparent here because of higher resolution.

What does all of that mean? The film looks extremely good but could look brilliant. Still, on the whole this looks much better than the DVD edition.

The extras are still presented in 480p (which is standard DVD definition)so be aware those haven't been updated. However, Universal has made this a U-Control disc where you can customize the extras as you watch the film (something developed for and carried over from HD-DVD). You do get the ability to watch the visual commentary/extras while watching the film. All of the original extras from the DVD have been ported over for this edition. All of the extras and the film are on the single disc edition here (unlike the DVD which has most of the extras on a second disc).

Followed by the equally entertaining (and much bigger production of) "The Mummy Returns" and a fun entertaining (if lesser)spin-off film "The Scorpion King", "The Mummy" is worth picking up again even if you have the original DVD edition. Highly recommended.

Oh, and the plot? A group of explorers led by Evelyn (Rachel Weisz)and Rick (Brendan Fraiser)rush to find the riches of an Egyptian tomb and end up reviving Im-Ho-Tep (Arnold Vosloo)an Egyptian High Priest buried alive for his part in a conspiracy to kill the Pharoah. Brought back by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Im-Ho-Tep takes revenge on those who plundered his tomb and seeks the Book of the Dead to bring back his beloved princess who helped him kill the Pharoah.

It is a great popcorn flick.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New 2-disc Deluxe Edition due out on July 8th, 2008, April 28, 2008

By 

Sanpete (in Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mummy (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (DVD)

There was already a 2-disc "Ultimate" Edition of The Mummy back in 2001, but it's no longer available. The upcoming release of The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor has prompted Universal to release a new edition of The Mummy with the major special features from the Ultimate Edition plus a few new ones. It will be only in widescreen (the Ultimate Edition had both wide and full).

The Mummy is a peculiar movie, an Indiana Jonesish adventure originally intended as a low-budget remake of a 1932 horror film called The Mummy (also being released in a new Special Edition) that got spun in several directions before Brendan Fraser and huge special effects were settled on. Fraser plays an adventurer with the French Foreign Legion in 1920s Egypt who gets into serious trouble with, among other beings, a mummy (sort of) with terrible powers. Rachel Weisz plays the beautiful Egyptologist who both causes trouble and solves it. Fraser isn't ideally suited to a Harrison Ford-type role, his natural center of gravity tending more to the comic, but it's hard not to like him. The movie is less scary than just fun, if you don't insist on everything making sense.

Here are the new special features:

-- "An Army To Rule The World Part 1" featurette
-- "Unraveling The Legacy Of The Mummy" featurette
-- a digital copy of the movie
-- a sneak peak at The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

These are the features taken from the Ultimate Edition:

-- three audio commentaries:
. . . director Stephen Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay
. . . star Brendan Fraser
. . . actors Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O'Connor, Arnold Vostoo
-- "Building A Better Mummy," documentary about the making of the film (49:45)
-- "Visual And Special Effects Formation," on how the special effects were done
-- "Egyptology 101," text about aspects of Egyptian history
-- "Pharaoh Lineage," text on the history of the Egyptian Pharaohs
-- comparison of the storyboards and the movie (three brief snippets)
-- photo montage
-- theatrical trailer

The sequel, The Mummy Returns, is also being released in a 2-disc Deluxe Edition, also on July 8th; it's here.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love action and a bit of suspense, The Mummy's a must, December 17, 1999

By 

Andrew Glenn (49th Parallel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mummy (Widescreen Collector's Edition) (DVD)

No doubt about it, this is a sharp flick. All the ingredients come together to make this a very entertaining film. Naturally there's plenty of action which takes place against some great sets and is enhanced by impressive special effects. But there's also a good deal of suspense (as you would expect in a Mummy movie), and plenty of humourous one-liners as well.

It's sort of like a '90s version of Indiana Jones and will probably be considered just as much a classic in years to come.