Back in 1999, the Universal Monsters franchise got a shot in the arm with The Mummy, an updated take on the 1932 original.

Though much of its inspiration comes from elsewhere. The Mummy offers a lively, exciting little romp that gleefully echoes the classic "cliffhangers" circa the 1940s and 1950s, as funneled through later flicks. Raiders of the Lost Ark and the other Indiana Jones movies took their inspiration directly from those kinds of pictures, since the filmmakers behind them grew up on those.

That wouldn't seem to be the case with The Mummy, however. The creative forces behind it were too young to have experienced those serials firsthand, so my guess is that they're reinterpreting the cliffhangers as channeled through the Indiana Jones films. It's kind of a secondhand inspiration.

No matter - as long as the final result is as fun and vibrant as The Mummy, they can take their inspiration from a box of corn flakes. Many critics attacked the film for being dumb and/or inane, but I think they missed the point. Not every movie can be a classic, and many - such as The Mummy - harbor no greater goal than to offer the audience an energetic, fun escape for a couple of hours.

By no stretch of the imagination is The Mummy the most exciting or most inventive or most creative or wittiest or scariest movie you'll ever see; in fact, it's probably not very high on that list. However, it does what it needs to do, and it does so more than satisfactorily.

Key to the achievement of this goal is the fact that it doesn't appear that director Stephen Sommers or any of the cast took themselves too seriously. They knew they were making a frothy popcorn flick and threw themselves into that task with abandon. Lots of folks like to intensely inspect every frame of a film like this and find whatever flaws in logic or reality that they can. To me, that’s absolutely absurd. It's a movie about a mummy who comes back to life, for God's sake! Obviously you have to suspend your disbelief or else why even bother?

Without question, The Mummy wouldn't stand up too well to close inspection, but as long as you let yourself take the ride, it's quite enjoyable. Sommers offers enough plot and history to ground the viewer but he definitely doesn't bog down anyone with too much exposition. He keeps the picture moving at a very crisp pace and seems to usually be able to conjure a nice surprise or two around most corners.

The Mummy also succeeds because of its leading man. Brendan Fraser displays a nicely unassuming charm that helps the audience buy his characters, and he makes our hero Rick O'Connell sweetly human. He's not as endearing as Harrison Ford in the Indy films, but he shows a lot of the same characteristics as he gladly lets us see his character's foibles and flaws. With a more bombastic leading man at the helm, The Mummy wouldn't have succeeded as well as it does, but Fraser helps maintain a nice balance for his character.

The remainder of the cast also provides solid work. Rachel Weisz offers a spunky turn as Evelyn, the brains of the treasure-seekers outfit and Fraser's inevitable romantic partner. Weisz neatly reminds us of leading ladies from the past as she makes Evelyn the kind of prim, proper girl one expects to encounter in films of the 1940s; she'd fit in well as a participant in movies of that era.

John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor round out the main cast with their primarily comic turns as Evelyn's ne'er-do-well brother Jonathan and sleazy fortune-hunter Beni, respectively; both are fairly one-dimensional characters, but the actors make them compelling all the same. Hannah actually gets the film’s biggest laugh; I leave it up to you to figure out which scene I mean.

I thought it was fairly refreshing that The Mummy keeps the sex, violence and language largely on a par with the films it aspires to emulate. It's rated PG-13, but I'm not terribly sure why. Sex is absolutely nil - Rick and Evelyn kiss two and a half times - and if the film offers much profanity, I certainly don't remember it; actually, I was almost shocked when a character used the word “shit” because the rest of the language was so clean.

I suppose violence is the biggest issue here, but it's never at a level much above that of a cartoon. While I watched the film, I noticed that many scenes that could have been gruesome were staged off-screen. As such, there's not much gore here.

Whatever the reason for the PG-13, parents probably don't have much to worry about if they want to let kids younger than 13 watch The Mummy; I feel it possesses a general appeal and a light enough tone that it should be enjoyable for littler ones.

When it comes to my complaints about The Mummy, I find the weak effects to be its greatest flaw. The computer graphics seem especially poor, and the film has not aged well in that regard. The effects weren’t too hot in 1999, but I don’t recall finding them to look quite this phony and cartoony in the past. The goofy CGI doesn’t ruin the experience, but it takes me out of the story to a slight degree.

Nonetheless, I continue to really enjoy The Mummy. It’s a derivative story that presents absolutely nothing new, but it comes across in such a chipper and bright manner that it ultimately seemed quite engaging. The Mummy doesn’t try to be anything more than a fun popcorn flick, and it achieves its goals nicely.

The Mummy appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not a stellar transfer, the image usually satisfied.

For the most part, sharpness was very good, as the vast majority of the movie displayed strong clarity and delineation. A few shots looked a bit soft, though; these were rare but they did occur, and I noticed light edge haloes on occasion. No issues with shimmering or jaggies occurred, and print flaws appeared pretty much non-existent. I noted a speckle or two, but that was it.

In regard to the film’s color scheme, golden tones dominated the proceedings, and the disc reproduced these in a positive manner. At times the hues looked slightly heavy, but I thought that was intentional. The Blu-ray replicated the tones well.

Black levels seemed deep and rich, and shadow detail was appropriately heavy but never excessively thick, even during the dreaded “day for night” shots. Since so much of the movie took place in underground locations, the quality of the low-light shots became especially important, and they showed nice clarity. The smattering of minor concerns made this a “B” transfer, but it was still quite good most of the time.

The film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundfield seemed nicely encompassing. The forward channels displayed solid breadth and created a convincing and believable spectrum. Sounds appeared properly located within the environment, and they panned neatly between the channels. Jerry Goldsmith’s score pumped brightly from all five speakers throughout the movie, and the surrounds also provided some good effects usage much of the time.

I felt that the latter aspects were a little inconsistent, as some scenes - mainly gun battles - appeared to be a little too heavily anchored in the front, and they failed to spread to the rears as well as I’d like. However, many other segments - particularly the creepy ones in the tombs - were very compellingly rendered, as they used the surrounds to terrific advantage. Ultimately, the soundfield usually seemed visceral and involving, despite a few mildly lackluster segments.

Audio quality appeared to be strong. Although much of the dialogue clearly needed to be looped, the speech always seemed warm and natural, and it integrated into the events well. I noticed no signs of edginess or problems related to intelligibility. Music came across as nicely dynamic and bright, as the score manifested itself with great force.

Most of the track’s low end stemmed from the music, which seemed deep and rich. At times effects provided a nice burst of bass, but I thought they could have been more intense. Nonetheless, the effects were clean and realistic, and they fit the action well. In the end, The Mummy offered very positive audio.

How did the picture and sound of this Blu-Ray compare with those of the 2008 Deluxe Edition? Audio was similar; the lossless DTS-HD track might’ve been a little stronger, but not by much. The Blu-ray’s visuals showed more notable improvements, though. This disc was tighter and demonstrated more pleasing colors. It was a good step up in quality.

Most of the DE’s extras repeat here, starting with three running audio commentaries. The first comes from director/writer Stephen Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific chat. They discuss cast, characters and performances, sets and locations, story issues and editing, the film’s tone, stunts and effects, and a few other shoot specifics.

The commentary proves entertaining and informative. Usually in a situation such as this, the director would dominate the track, but these two appear to be old friends so the commentary is better balanced than I would expect. Both men tend to focus on the technical aspects of making the movie, but they also toss in a good number of funny anecdotes from the set. It's a nicely casual track and the two participants are witty and engaging.

The second audio commentary comes solely from actor Brendan Fraser. I looked forward to the piece, but unfortunately, it’s a crashing bore. While Fraser occasionally drops in an interesting little tidbit - such as an extra who constantly stared at the camera, or his own near-hanging on the set - for the most part the actor simply giggles as he watches the flick. He interjects vapid statements like “that’s gotta hurt” and “ooh!” from time to time, and he attempts to crack wise throughout the track.

It’s all a disaster. I’ve checked out other reviews of this commentary and found those who seemed to find it enjoyable, but I can’t imagine how that could be. I thought Fraser’s track was one of the worst I’ve ever heard, and it was a total disappointment.

Better is the third and final audio commentary. This one involves actors Arnold Vosloo, Kevin J. O’Connor, and Oded Fehr. All three were recorded together for this running, screen-specific track. Although they suffer from a little too much “happy talk” at times - during which they tell us how great everything was - the guys nonetheless impart a solid amount of information.

Unlike Fraser, they relate lots of good details about working on the film, and despite the generally positive tone, they’re not shy about complaining from time to time. For instance, Vosloo relates his dislike of some processes, and a few shots are criticized. Overall, the track seemed nicely breezy and engaging; it isn’t a great commentary but I thought it was largely fun and entertaining.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray, we get an interactive feature called U-Control. While this usually includes a few different elements, The Mummy just goes with picture-in-picture tidbits. These provide shots from the set, storyboards and remarks from Fraser, Sommers, Vosloo, O’Connor, VFX art director Alex Laurant, ILM model supervisor Barbara Affonso, stunt coordinator Simon Crane, SFX supervisor Chris Collwell, live action creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman, VFX supervisor John Berton, ILM animation supervisor Daniel Jeannette, ILM technical director David Horsley, production designer Allan Cameron, costume designer John Bloomfield, producer Sean Daniel, and actors Rachel Weisz and John Hannah. They cover effects, sets and locations, models, cast, characters and performances, working with animals, costumes and stunts.

I’ve liked a lot of the “U-Control” components, but this one’s pretty lackluster. The clips don’t add a whole lot of footage/information, so they don’t give us much that we can’t find elsewhere. This becomes a moderately inefficient use of time; it’s enjoyable enough for what it is, but it doesn’t work as one of the better PiP programs.

Three Deleted Scenes last a total of two minutes and 21 seconds. The first two are essentially character exposition, while the last one was a fight scene from the climactic section of the film. None are missed in the final product. During their feature commentary, Sommers and Ducsay discuss why they cut these scenes. From what they say, it sounds like a number of other pieces were cut from the film, so it's a disappointment that we receive so little excised material.

Next comes a Sneak Peek for 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. In this three-minute clip, we get a few remarks from Ducsay, Sommers, Fraser, director Rob Cohen, and actors Luke Ford, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Maria Bello. The piece exists to promote the movie, so nothing substantial appears here.

Next comes the four-minute and two-second An Army to Rule the World – Part 1. It features Ducsay and Sommers as they discuss the film’s depiction of the Priest Mummies. You’ll find a few interesting comments, but the featurette’s brevity means it lacks substance. Oh, and if you want to see Part 2, you’ll have to get the Blu-ray for The Mummy Returns.

Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy lasts eight minutes, seven seconds and features Sommers, Fraser, visual effects supervisor John Berton, producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel, film historians Steve Haberman and Sir Christopher Frayling, makeup artist Nick Dudman, actors Rachel Weisz and John Hannah, and author Stephen Jones. The show nods in the direction of the 1930s Mummy but really exists to promote the 1999 Mummy and 2001’s Mummy Returns. It’s a superficial puff piece that wastes the viewer’s time.

Pretty interesting - though awkwardly executed - is the section called Visual and Special Effects Formation. Essentially, this piece features five different effects scenes from the movie and shows how they were created; each segment progresses a little bit at a time. The effects themselves are presented visually while effects supervisor John Berton discusses them. I liked this section and thought it offered some good information. Oddly, though the 2008 DVD included a “Play All” option for this footage, the Blu-ray lacks it.

Next up is a 49-minute and 55-second documentary called Building a Better Mummy. Here we hear from Sommers, Berton, Dudman, Daniel, Fraser, Jacks, Vosloo, Weisz, Hannah, visual effects art director Alex Laurant, ILM visual effects supervisor Daniel Jeanette, CG animation supervisor Dennis Turner, computer graphics supervisors Michael Bauer and Ben Snow, lead Viewpaint artist Catherine Craig, CG sequence supervisors David Horsley and Ed Kramer, and stunt coordinator Simon Crane. Though it branches into broader topics, the show spends most of its time detailing the technical side of the filmmaking process. At the start of the program, Sommers briefly discusses his inspirations for the film, but after that, it's almost entirely a review of the special effects machinery. That's okay, though I would have preferred a program that also got into the "whats" and "whys" as opposed to just the "hows".

All in all, this documentary and the Sommers/Ducsay commentary do a great job of detailing that latter issue, but the other two aspects get left out to a large degree. Nonetheless, while the documentary is a little dry, it's still pretty good and worth a look.

We get a Storyboard to Final Film Comparison for seven scenes. Each of these shows the boards at the top of the screen and the finished movie in the bottom half. They run a total of 10 minutes and six seconds. They’re a decent addition if you like this sort of material.

The Photograph Montage follows the same format found on Universal’s Classic Monster DVDs. It offers a slew of production and promotional shots, all of which have been filmed and backed by the movie’s score. This piece runs for four minutes and 18 seconds and makes for a modest but somewhat interesting program.

14 years down the road, I continue to enjoy 1999’s The Mummy. While it reinvents no wheels, it delivers a fun, action-packed adventure. The Blu-ray presents good visuals along excellent audio and a solid selection of bonus materials. Both movie and Blu-ray satisfy.