'Dragon Emperor' takes the audience to another setting for this adventure by going to China to tell the story.  Enter Jet Li, who assumed the role of the Dragon Emperor and added a bit of further star appeal to the saga.  He did well in the role and seemed to have fun with it.  The problem is, the rest of the cast probably had too much fun making this movie.  With a tone far too jovial than even the other 'Mummy' films, Brendan Fraser and the gang (including the introduction of his character's son) offered too many wisecracks throughout the course of this adventure to be taken seriously. 

 

The real problem with this movie, however, lies with the direction of Rob Cohen, whose in-your-face camera coverage made the film feel too tight.  Though the story offered many set pieces and locales, the cinematography never seemed to offer any type of scope or style until the finale.  By then, the damage had been done.  It's a shame to see so much work be put into set design and location and have the director rob it of its quality.  To that end, the vision was flawed.

 

Also flawed is the sense of style about this movie.  One would like to think that a director could place his or her stamp on a production but the feeling I had during 'Mummy 3' was that it was all by the numbers.  You know there are issues if the skeletal mummies of a long deceased Chinese army had more charisma than the leads (except Eveylyn's brother, John Hannah, who offered genuine laughs during the story).  Whether the credit goes to the efx artists who rendered the skeletal warriors or Cohen himself, the comedic antics that took place during the final battle were a nice touch.

 

Overall, there is about 20 minutes of solid entertainment to be had with "Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," but with that sparse a quality, once can easily wait on a DVD rental of it...which is what I recommend in this diappointing third, and possibly final, installment in "The Mummy" franchise.