Following up the smash hit The Mummy in 2001 writer/director Stephen Sommers took everything that made the first film a success and pretty much duplicated it here with only a few additions. The first of which is seen right off the bat as The Rock makes his feature film debut as the Scorpion King, a performance that is almost laughable but dismissible since this film is so much fun to watch. The other new twist is the addition of now married Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn (Weisz) O’Connell’s son, 8-year-old Alex. Together these three are out on a mission early on in the film to uncover the Scorpion King's lost bracelet, but they aren't the only ones...

Finding the bracelet does not only mean fame and fortune in the archaeological society it also means the resurrection of the Scorpion King and his army. However, defeat the Scorpion King and you control his army and can destroy all of mankind! Hmmm, sounds a bit dramatic and I can see why the baddies would be interested in owning it. Honestly, it is cheesy, but it is well thought out cheese and a lot of fun. I own both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns on DVD and have watched them both several times and plan on doing the same with my HD DVD copies.

Along with the high-definition video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio track you get all the features that were offered on the DVD. You get a commentary with director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay, a group of outtakes, a generic making-of featurette, a music video and a group of featurettes based on the making of the special effects for the film. Only problem with any of these is that they are all in standard definition and are not format to fit on a widescreen television, which is one of the most annoying things I can think of. Example, recently I wanted to revisit Mission: Impossible only to find out my DVD only fit on my screen as if it was a standard 4:3, not cool, and it is equally un-cool here. Oh well, I am more interested in the movie anyway and it works.

While the special effects aren't spectacular the look and story is so much popcorn fun this is an easy film to add to your growing HD DVD collection. Quite honestly The Mummy Returns and its predecessor The Mummy are two movies worth upgrading to HD DVD even if you already own the DVD version, which is something I can't remember saying about any HD DVD before.