Thousands of years ago in Ancient Egypt, Thut (Joe Thomas) was racing around a stadium in a chariot. It's a brutal race with traps and spiked wheels. Through some clever maneuvering, Thut nearly scored a victory, that is, until his chariot disintegrates, sending him flying. Today, Lord Carnaby (Hugh Bonneville), a pompous archaeologist, searches for the tomb of Princess Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson). But when he opens the sarcophagus, he finds it empty. Because for some of the mummies, death was not the end.
I'm going to be pretty negative with this review, but I want to highlight some of the strengths of the movie. Some moments are genuinely funny. When they really get into the weeds of culture shock that they would be mummies trying to exist in today's world, it can be great. Every interaction with the Mother was a delight. On top of this, the animation looks quite dated. Everything flows well, which is necessary in some of the action scenes. Also, the overall story is, look, okay. Carnaby wants the show from him, Thut has a secret he's trying to hide, and Nefer wants to sing, and it all works out at lightning speeds. I mean, he does his job.
Director: Juan Jesús García Galocha
Writers: Jordi Gasull, Javier López Barreira
Stars:Ana Esther Alborg, Roser Aldabó Arnau, Óscar Barberán
Needle drops have become an increasingly popular addition to cinema over the last year. The notion of taking a song that wasn't written for the movie, often one that already has a sense of notoriety, and injecting it into the proceedings has been used to enhance a physical sequence or perhaps distract viewers from what's going on. otherwise it would be a fairly common scenario. piece and fool them into thinking it's cutting edge.
Of all the movies we've seen adopt this practice, and of all the movies throughout 2023 that are likely to do so, none will match the creative decisions made on Mummies.
The film itself is a bizarre and fascinatingly horrific amalgamation of direct-to-video quality animation and narrative that invites its viewers into a potentially enchanting afterworld, but forgets to lay the groundwork in the process; I'm all for making it easier to expose, but at least one scene might have helped bring us up to speed on exactly what's going on in the Egyptian underworld the mummies want us to invest in.
What initially feels like ancient Egypt is quickly framed as the present, but in this underworld the residents live far from the technological advances of the outside world and, as we quickly found out, still practice the art of arranged marriages; We also learn that the Pharaoh (voiced by Sean Bean) controls the shadows of the night and day sky via a mechanical contraption, but, of course, let's not let anyone here use a cell phone.
The daughter of the pharaoh, Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson), wants more than what society expects of her (or not all?), and because the screenwriters Jordi Gasull and Javier Barreira devise a crazy adventure where shielded Egyptians face advances Everyday life of the “real world” is enough of a narrative to get through a 90-minute recap, she finds herself thrust into present-day London, with the Macguffin of an ancient ring belonging to her family falling into the clutches of an evil archaeologist, Lord Carnaby. (Hugh Bonneville). ), reason enough to change the setting.
However, this movie is full of downright bizarre decisions, and while some are puzzling, fascinatingly, like the weirdest Nickelback needle drop in movie history. The rest hit on different levels of "why did they do that?" At first, there are minor things like the movie using a Roman chariot stadium in Ancient Egypt. Also, the more you think about the world of Mummies, the more horrifying and bewildering it becomes. But these are minor issues, and if they just stayed there, it wouldn't have been a problem.
Then we have the puzzling mid-range issues, like one of the Ancient Egyptian characters using an indigenous Australian boomerang [Edit: I actually messed up on this one, but the rest still stands]. Did it lead to some comedic moments? Yeah, did it ever make sense? No. However, we have to talk about the main problem with the film: unfortunately, it is full of whitewashing. This is not just the cast but the character design, in 2023, we shouldn't be seeing it, and it was a real barrier for me.
In the end, do we recommend Mummies? Look, no, I can't. Now, I know that some of the problems come from the film's transition to English, as well as being aimed at a very young audience. Some of the more absurd elements hit so hard that I can almost recommend it for that 'what's going on' experience, but it just doesn't quite get there.
Watch Mummies 2023 Movie Trailer
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