The Mummy
Universal Pictures | Release Date: May 7, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
16
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
Digs up both laughs and chills from timeworn material. Read full review
88
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Cheerful, slightly cheesy entertainment that uses the latest special-effects techniques to breathe life into a venerable film tradition. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Even if The Mummy is imitation Spielberg, it offers more bang for the buck than we're used to getting. Read full review
80
IGNScott Collura
Stephen Sommers' throwback to adventure films and screwball comedies has managed to become a modern classic, and a paean to a type of movie that rarely gets made these days. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A pretty good job of zipping things along and occasionally scaring us, and the digital effects are fun. Read full review
70
NewsweekDevin Gordon
This remake is like a live-action cartoon: all brio and no brains. Read full review
70
Mr. ShowbizJustine Elias
A well-crafted, great looking adventure, with some spirited performances. Read full review
70
Film.comGemma Files
Here in the rotting depths of pulp horror/adventure territory, that's the entire point of the exercise.
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
There is much to look at--it's like spending two hours in Michael Jackson's Undead Neverland--but not a lot at stake. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Packs so much hell-for-leather action, gorgeous Moroccan scenery and eye-popping Industrial Light and Magic visual effects into its two hours that, after a while, I began to get tired of it. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
In the end, it's the self-mocking aura that save this film from being a waste of two hours. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyF. X. Feeney
A near miss overall, but enjoyable in its littler particulars. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Noisy, spectacular and disposable. Read full review
60
Film.comErnest Hardy
In the end, solid acting, stellar special-effects, and well-wrought tension make the film a worthy date flick or matinee outing.
60
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
It's not nearly as much fun as the action-packed trailer makes it seem.
50
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
A soulless spectacle. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverHal Hinson
Even with so much in its favor, The Mummy seems to fall all too easily. If only generating a soul for the film itself were so easy. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Long, bombastic, and violent, but fantasy fans may enjoy its fast-moving energy. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
This version of The Mummy has no pretenses to be anything other than a gaudy comic video game splashed onto the screen. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
A frantic, epic-sized blowout of campy, "Indiana Jones" -style derring-do mixed with lots of computer-generated gee-whizzes. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Tries for that series' breezy matinee atmosphere but the results turn out far too forced. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Seems to be going through a series of motions so obviously virtual that it makes you wish that the filmmakers had stayed away from the computer keyboards entirely and stuck with the rotting tape look. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Drags its uninspiring action out too long for anyone's good. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Big, lavish and dumb as camel spit -- is proof that sometimes it's better to let sleeping genres lie. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Make no mistake -- this Mummy is an effects film all the way. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Numbingly predictable and repetitive non-stop action. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
There isn't a mummy at the center of The Mummy, exactly, but a mutating Industrial Light and Magic Special Effect. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Stumbles and screeches on for an interminable two hours. Read full review
30
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
What we've really got here is a tame screwball adventure dressed up with some desert scenery and some awful computer graphics. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Fast and furious, shallow, empty, casually racist, merry, jaunty, silly and utterly weightless. Read full review
30
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Universal’s attempt to find gold by bringing to new life one of the mustier items in its vaults is pure hokum and scarcely of the first order. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Crudely remaking the 1932 Universal original. Read full review
20
Film.comRobert Horton
Slouches in as a weightless, instantly forgettable picture.
20
TimeRichard Schickel
Hopelessly overwrought and deeply dopey movie. Read full review
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