Fresh Loaf

Brendan Fraser (left) in 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'

According to Variety.com, Brendan Fraser’s signed on to star in the live-action family comedy Furry Vengeance (seriously):

Fraser will play a real estate developer whose new housing subdivision pushes far into a pristine part of the Oregon wilderness, pitting the developer against a band of angry critters.

Which made me stop and wonder: When — no, how — did Brendan Fraser become a hot Hollywood commodity? I’ve never been able to shake the images of Fraser from Encino Man (mostly good) or Bedazzled (not so good) from my brain and chocked up his success with blockbusters such as the Mummy movies and Journey to the Center of the Earth to sheer, I dunno, luck? I certainly never credited his acting ability. Even diehard members of the Brendan Fraser Fan Club are scratching their heads about his recent roles.

(Photo courtesy New Line Cinema)

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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (reviewed here) opens in theaters today. It’s the third film in Brendan Fraser’s Mummy series, not counting the spin-off The Scorpion King, and if you like the kind of sequels in which characters say “Here we go again!” it should be right up your sarcophagus.

I’ve noticed that some of the geekier movie critics have pointed out that, despite all the mummy references in the dialogue, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor does not technically feature traditional “monster-mummies.” Jet Li, for instance, plays undead Emperor Han, who has a crumbling clay/metal body and power over the elements, but he’s not the kind of reanimated, guaze-bandaged mummy of vintage horror fame. The film takes inspiration from the Terracotta Army of Shi Huang Di, the real-life First Emperor of China, who was buried with thousands of terracotta statues of soldiers and horses around 210 B.C. Apparently if they come to life and cross the Great Wall of China, they’ll become indestructible warriors, too.

Coincidentally (or not), the bona fide Terracotta Army will descend on Atlanta in November when the High Museum presents the exhibit The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army, which showcases 100 works from the ongoing excavation. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a pretty frantic and labored piece of entertainment, but if it inspires just one person to go to an actual museum, it’ll be worth it. Plus, visitors can rest assured that the terracotta statues won’t rise up and throw fireballs at them. Probably.

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