The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

'The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' is the weakest of the trilogy, even if it does have arguably the best title of the three. I do think there is enough positive about it that it is worth watching, though admittedly the plot does feel threadbare - it's nowt enthralling either.
I do appreciate the refresh of sorts we get, however. It doesn't feel connected much to the prior installments, which I guess would be a negative for some (many?) but to me the lore change from Egyptian to Chinese (plus cities/mountains) made it slightly more interesting than a proper rehash would've.
The special effects are just about passable, probably better than the original two films - I should hope so too, given the time difference in release. With that said, I wasn't a big fan of the Yetis, they didn't quite work for me visually and also in terms of how they work with the plot.
Brendan Fraser returns, which is good. Jet Li (albeit as a lame character; not helped by the boring effects used for the Dragon Emperor) and Michelle Yeoh are welcomed additions, Yeoh is the standout in my opinion. Luke Ford is solid enough as Alex.
Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz, unfortunately. That's not a rejection of Bello, at all. More so that I dislike recasts and Weisz was perfect for the role, so any replacement was always going to fall short. Bello is an actress I do enjoy though and she herself is fine throughout.
I could very easily be rating this a notch lower, to be honest. For some reason, the rating I've chosen feels more befitting. It produces good and less than good things, the former just narrowly outdoes the latter.

From dumb fun to... regular dumb.
It's hard to find a point where _Tomb of the Dragon Emperor_ wasn't hampered by itself. Or a point where it makes any sort of logical sense. Unfortunate that is was no good, lending credence to the need of a reboot, which we now have, but wish we didn't.
_Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid if possible._