★★☆☆☆
When a devilishly British archaeologist (Hugh Bonneville) breaks into an Egyptian tomb, three mummies go to modern-day London in search of their lost ring. Read our review of Mummies.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that every household with children will, at some stage, contain a young ‘un obsessed with one of two things: dinosaurs or Ancient Egypt. Mummies, the Spanish animation from debut director Juan Jesús García Galocha, might be lacking in the diplodocus front, but as far as the Egyptian half of the equation goes, it seems at first glance that Warner Bros. has managed a slam dunk.
Dubbed over in English from the Spanish-language animation, Mummies sees ex-charioteer Thut (Joe Thomas) chosen by a magical phoenix to marry Princess Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson). But, when Hugh Bonneville’s nefariously named Lord Sylvester Carnaby steals their engagement ring and cackles his way back to London, the mummies join forces with younger brother Sekhem (Santiago Winder) to grab it back.
Credit: Warner Bros.
The (historically dubious) ‘World of Mummies,’ accessed via a charming Monsters Inc-style pastel credits sequence, looks lovely. The last few years have done wonders for popular understanding of how the ancient world looked, and the massive, painted statues and cheery market stalls are a far cry from the dusty megaliths we’re used to. They also have traffic signals communicated by a man doing the ‘walk like an Egyptian’ pose. Everyone is lightly wrapped in bandages which, though absent from the archaeological literature, are fun and therefore tolerated.
After going through all this effort to remake ancient Egypt from scratch, it’s odd that most of the story happens in modern-day London. A few significant landmarks aside, there’s not much done to distinguish it from any other city – other than, oddly, the bins, which are double-faced and lacking only a thick layer of grime and a few cigarette butts. And that’s a problem – it feels like the team behind Mummies gave up at some late stage of development.
The story, though competently plotted, is desperately light on jokes. As Nefer wants to follow her dreams and become a singer, there are a few songs, just enough to feel like Mummies was, at one point, a musical. A few lines of dialogue, when paired with the animation, don’t make sense in context. The cast might be oddly packed with British national treasures, but don’t do much to elevate the material (though the idea that an Egyptian pharaoh might sound like Sean Bean is inadvertently amusing). The whole thing can’t help but feel a bit rushed.
Credit: Warner Bros.
Not much of this will matter to its target audience, of course. Parents with very young Egyptologists will find plenty to keep them engaged. There’s little here to write a papyrus home for older kids and everyone else.
For 2023’s ‘most unexpected use of a Nickleback song,’ though? Mummies has that one in the bag.
Mummies is in UK cinemas on 31 March.
