It's 2026 And I Just Watched Brendan Fraser's The Mummy For The First Time – These Are My Honest Thoughts

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It's sort of funny, in retrospect, that I never got around to watching 1999's "The Mummy" before now. As a kid, I had that Eyewitness Books book about ancient Egypt and pored over it like it was my own personal Book of Amun-Ra ... and yet, I never made time to sit down and watch two of the hottest people in Hollywood fight mummies and geek out over artifacts and hieroglyphics. So, here we are, right as Lee Cronin's "The Mummy" is set to hit theaters, and my editors asked me to let them know what I thought of the 1999 version of "The Mummy," i.e. the box office smash hit directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

My verdict? It's a deeply funny and irreverent adventure that stars two of the most attractive people I've ever seen in my life. What more can you ask for from a movie, really?

Like I said when I watched "Jurassic Park" for the first time in 2025 (I know, okay?!), they just ... don't make 'em like this anymore, and despite some overtly silly CGI that definitely distracted my 2026 brain, "The Mummy" feels like it is, itself, a relic of a time gone by in terms of moviemaking. The triumphant score, the sizzling chemistry between Weisz and Fraser's characters Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan, and the joyful sense of adventure even when the story takes some admittedly dangerous turns all feel like bygone concepts now that every reboot is "gritty" or whatever. (According to those who have already seen Cronin's take on "The Mummy," it is downright scary.)

I do want to say something important here, by the way: If "The Mummy" is insensitive in its depiction of Egyptian and Arabic people, that is for others to bring up. I am not the right person to speak to that, but I would hazard a guess that not everybody from this region of the world is totally in love with how its citizens are depicted. With that said, is there anything that hasn't aged well?

Yes, definitely — and the worst example, without question, is Imhotep's titular mummy. After Evelyn inadvertently reawakens him with the Book of the Dead, we're treated to multiple shots of a frankly horrible CGI mummy trying to figure out how to regain his corporeal form, and I'll fully admit that I giggled at how ridiculous it looked. There are some other instances of rough CGI scattered throughout the film, for sure, but Imhotep's mummy form (before he turns back into a ripped human played by Arnold Vosloo) looks absurd.

Still, this is a movie that was made in the 1990s, so it does employ a lot of practical effects and was sorta filmed on location. (Morocco stood in for Egypt due to an eight-year long rise of insurgency groups from 1992 to 1998, making it almost impossible to shoot there.) The practical effects are a delight to behold here, and the sets the movie's crew built in Morocco look tactile and incredible, letting the actors actually interact with their surroundings. This is a movie that would likely be made with way more CGI now, so bad digital effects aside, it's still refreshing to see it used sparingly (and it's weirdly endearing that it looks so unconvincing).

For me, the best part about watching 1999's "The Mummy" in the spring of 2026 is Evelyn and her trajectory in its story. Right away, we learn that Rachel Weisz's character is a brilliant student of Egyptian history, even if she does go to somewhat extreme lengths to get her hands on priceless artifacts. Plus, even though the movie ostensibly turns her into a damsel in distress by making her the chosen vessel of Imhotep's lost love Anck-su-namun (played in the very beginning of the film by Patricia Velásquez), Evelyn manages to fully transcend that dismissive label. Evelyn is whip-smart, a quick thinker, and good in a crisis. Even if Rick does swoop in and save her from time to time, you get the distinct sense that she's perfectly capable of doing it herself.

Thanks to a formidable actor like Weisz, Evelyn is every bit as much a hero as Rick (and I feel like I should say that both Weisz and Brendan Fraser won Academy Awards after co-starring in "The Mummy" together, which is just a neat little thing to consider). By the end of the movie, Evelyn is the one who really defeats Imhotep by correctly using the Book of Amun-Ra to turn him into a vulnerable, mortal human, making her the real victor of this entire situation. (Also, not for nothing, she gets a very hot guy to kiss her at the end. That's yet another win for our girl Evelyn!)

"The Mummy" is streaming on HBO Max now — and you should go watch it! It's really fun! As for Lee Cronin's "The Mummy," that's currently playing in theaters.