September 5, 2002 -- The highly successful movie, "The Mummy" has spawned an animated kid's television series on the Warner Brothers Network (The program is not on the WB network schedule at this time, however). A DVD which chronicles the beginnings of the new Mummy adventures, called "The Mummy: Quest for the Lost Scrolls," is due to go on sale October 1, 2002. I got an advance review copy. It has interesting characters and plenty of action.

The star, of course, is 11-year-old Alex O'Connell, who dons a magic bracelet which gives him power to fight the evil mummy, Imhotep. The bracelet is also a curse because it cannot be taken off and it makes Alex a target for Imhotep, who wants the bracelet so he can rule the world. Regular characters include Evy O'Connell, Alex's mother, an expert archaeologist, Rick O'Connell, Alex's adventurer father, Uncle Jonathan, Evy's dilettante brother, and Ardeth Bay, a fierce Med-jai warrior sworn to protect mankind from Imhotep. These are all characters from the original live-action Mummy films. Voices are performed by John Schneider, Grey Deluise, Chris Marquette, Tom Kenny, Michael Reisz, Nicholas Guest, Jim Cummings, Thomas Decker and Kevin Michael Richardson.

The story has the O'Connells in Egypt at an archaeological dig when the mummy is brought back to life by use of a magic incantation. The rest of the story is a game of keep-away with Imhotep trying to get his hands on the magic bracelet and the O'Connells and their allies frustrating him. The continuing adventures include Alex being taught the ways of the Med-jai warriors by Ardeth Bay (sort of like Luke being taught the ways of the Jedi by Obi Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars"). The cartoon characters have enough depth to them to make them interesting and the action moves along pretty well. Technically, the animation is of good quality and the DVD has good image and sound quality. The animation is not as good as the animation found in most theatrical animation releases, but this is not a theatrical release. It was made for televison. It isn't the best animation found on television, but at the same time, it is superior to a lot of animation seen on television. The story is pretty much kids stuff, however. As such, it rates a B.

The DVD consists of three episodes, "The Summoning," in which Imhotep is brought back to life, "The Puzzle," a treasure hunt for a puzzle map to find the scrolls of Thebes (which contain secrets for unlocking the power of the magic bracelet), and "The Maze" a hunt for the scrolls in a maze protected by a deadly Minotaur. There is also a bonus episode, "The Orb of Aten," another treasure hunt for a magical object. The bonus episode can be accessed by correctly answering the trivia challenge on the DVD.

The DVD also has Egyptology text information, text information on the main characters, a "Kids WB Top Toons" Mummy tune, a promo for "The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai, a New Beginning" TV show, a preview of "The Mummy Game Boy Advance Game," and a preview of the "Monster Force" video game. This dual-layer DVD comes with a full screen 1.33:1 aspect ratio and Dolby (tm) digital 2.0 stereo sound.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.