Saturday, August 09, 2008

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Just watched the Mommy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Well, it's just another show with a lot of special effects. The plot is pretty standard, and you can read it at this Wiki. Actually China tombs don't have Egypt style mummy (got mummified burials, but still different style lah), and the 'special abilities' used by the mummy in this show seems a bit weird. They explained it by saying that the Emperor has mastered the five elements. A bit lame actually.

The effects are nicely done, and the 'merging' of the flying dragon or the terracotta warrior to Jet Li is quite seamless. I'm also impressed with the mechanical setups, especially the part of the automatic bow and arrows at the beginning of the show. They also did some research on how the Great Wall was built. The only part which is not as perfect is the rendering of the terracotta Jet Li when the emperor first awaken.

Other than special effects, the other not so great part is the funny mandarin used in the show. Luke Ford who acted as Alex in the movie really cannot speak mandarin, so they could have put some effort in his pronunciation. I wonder if the western audience can appreciate the mandarin used in the movie, even for those who know some basic chinese, because Jet Li was speaking in more 'chim' version (i.e. ancient grammar). Ok I understand the need to cater to the Chinese market, especially when the Olympics is so near.

Overall, an okay show to watch, but if you have other better shows like Batman or Red Cliff, watch them instead.

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