GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
58 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
xx New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
47 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The
Universal Pictures

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 31 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.0 out of 10
based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 83 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for adventure action and violence

Starring Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Wong, Luke Ford, and Isabella Leong

Explorer Rick O'Connell is back to combat the resurrected Han Emperor in an epic that races from the catacombs of ancient China high into the frigid Himalayas. Rick is joined in this all-new adventure by son Alex, wife Evelyn and her brother, Jonathan. And this time, the O'Connells must stop a mummy awoken from a 2,000-year-old curse who threatens to plunge the world into his merciless, unending service. (Universal Pictures)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  |  Fantasy  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Alfred Gough
Miles Millar
 
DIRECTED BY: Rob Cohen  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 16, 2008 
Theatrical: August 1, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Germany | Canada | USA 
LANGUAGE(S): English | Mandarin 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Now why did I like this movie? It was just plain dumb fun, is why. It is absurd and preposterous, and proud of it.
Read Full Review
67
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Dragon Emperor succeeds largely through sheer excess: It's doubtful that any idea was thrown out for being too implausible.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Anyone in the market for an overblown and totally mindless adventure-comedy will certainly get his money's worth.
Read Full Review
50
Time Richard Corliss
This Mummy movie is really two movies: a good adventure epic, with all the Chinese people, and a wan one, with O'Connells and the other the Westerners.
Read Full Review
50
TV Guide Ken Fox
Still passable popcorn fare, even if you'll barely taste it before swallowing.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
It's kind of fun but the twists and turns are all too familiar.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
After an hour of inert exposition, a race through Shanghai gooses the movie alive. Then it plunges back into torpor.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Kyle Smith
When I go to a Mummy movie, I don't want ninjas and yetis and men turned to stone. I want embalmed corpses and hieroglyphics. I want pharaoh. I want pyramids and sphinxes and Ace bandages. Did "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" take place on the Nile?
Read Full Review
50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The movie bogs down in tiresome good guys vs. bad guys action cliches.
Read Full Review
42
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
It's like an Indiana Jones movie without rhythm, wit or personality, just a desperate, headlong pace.
Read Full Review
42
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
There is one bit of good news. For all you abominable snowman fans out there, "The Mummy" is filled with yetis. And, boy, are they ever angry.
Read Full Review
40
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Boredom is the very basis of this sequel, at least at the beginning.
Read Full Review
40
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Though the new film has some good things, it does not have enough of them to make the third time the charm.
Read Full Review
40
Empire Staff (Not credited)
Competent, but so utterly bereft of any memorable moments that it becomes a bit of a bore. Perhaps it's time for a reboot – guy wrapped in bandages, shuffling around a pyramid, scaring people. You never know, it might just work.
Read Full Review
38
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Despite exotic locations, epic cinematography, and much spectacular crash and bang, this "Mummy" feels like a threadbare toss-off.
Read Full Review
38
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Feels perfunctory and obligatory and, despite the return of several familiar characters, is more like an afterthought than an organic third piece of a trilogy puzzle.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The film has one objective: to smack its audience in the face with fleeting, competing wows, over and over.
Read Full Review
33
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Shrill, unfunny third installment.
Read Full Review
30
Village Voice Vadim Rizov
Strange how dreary it all is, and how tired Fraser seems.
Read Full Review
30
Film Threat Felix Vasques Jr.
It's a damn shame when the dreaded third leg in the franchise feels like a pale imitation of an already pale imitator.
Read Full Review
30
Washington Post Jane Horwitz
Tiresome and messy.
Read Full Review
30
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Too much of the proceedings are silly rather than horrifying, with the nadir being the appearance of some particularly athletic Yetis who briefly pitch in to lend a hand.
Read Full Review
30
The New York Times Stephen Holden
The kindest thing to be said for this frantic, cluttered mess of cheesy computer-generated action-adventure clichés is that at least you can see how the estimated $175 million budget was spent.
Read Full Review
30
Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
For a movie about the undead, this lacks any supernatural chills, and by the time its obligatory final showdown arrives, it seems as hollow as the terra cotta soldiers brought to life by CGI.
Read Full Review
25
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The new Mummy is, how can I put it? Just freakin' awful.
Read Full Review
25
USA Today Mike Clark
Remarkably, the plot has much in common with "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," yet that bundle of fun has enough vision to make even its Barry Manilow interlude seem appropriate.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
As for Fraser, his clumsy humanity is endearing, but by now, assuming he has invested wisely, he should have enough money saved so as to not have to waste his talent anymore.
Read Full Review
25
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
I'm afraid it just stinks.
Read Full Review
25
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Tomb is the kind of movie you sit through dreading the expository scenes, because the acting is so bad and the dialogue so pointedly written to make sure the little ones in the audience can keep up with the plot.
Read Full Review
20
Variety Todd McCarthy
Reheating the ingredients can't disguise how stale they are, as setpiece after setpiece strains to whip up excitement, only to fall flat while reminding of previous sequences that did such things ever so much better.
Read Full Review
20
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The best news about this clangorous clunker is that it may well have vanquished the Mummy franchise.
Read Full Review
20
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
It's impossible to tell what's going on at any given moment in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; it's even harder to care about being able to tell.
Read Full Review
11
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Little more than a cluttered, noisy, and unsatisfying thrill ride to nowhere.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 4.0 (out of 10) based on 83 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bob R. gave it a0:
One of the worst movies i have ever seen, i literally fell asleep watching it. A huge waste of time and money.

R. Lopez gave it a9:
Truly the best in the series!! The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is an amazing action/adventure film that will make you forget you ever saw the first two. This time the O'Connell's unearth the ruthless Dragon Emperor. This new mummy epic will take you for the ancient catacombs of china to the frigid Himalayas, this movie will keep you laughing and your heart pounding trough the whole movie. It's an amazing film that you can watch over and over again and love every minute of this amazing adventure film. I very highly recommend this movie.

Jonny D. gave it a3:
Besides the special effects the movie sucked... Horrible they really tried to do too much in this movie... love, comedy, action, drama, and oh did I mention love? You tried to kill me and I love you. (schoffs) too much English for people that lived in China for 2000 years.

Jay H. gave it a5:
Granted it is not a great movie, but it is well produced with good special effects. It does entertain but it also tends to drag a bit too much and seemed longer than its hour and 52 minute length.

Robert gave it a0:
I couldn't believe they went ahead with the same character but with no Rachel Wiesz. Honestly getting someone to try to act like Rachel was a disgusting choice.Would have been better off just killing the character off and start over. That was the most disappointing move ever, and thats saying something considering I expected it to be utter crap. It was worse than that!!!

Jeff C. gave it an8:
Much better than I expected based on the ratings. Incredible action and special effects, with good comedy, as proved by laughs in the theater. Could have been better, but a good film overall.

Harry L. gave it a0:
Easily the worst movie i have ever layed eyes on, i am a big film nerd, and this was nothing compared the the others, boring story line, no mummys in the actually movie, jet li sold out once again, and yeti's ragons, and giant dogs, should not be in a movie based around Egypt, oh wait it wasn't, please i urge nobody else watch this travesty of a movie

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use