Mummies (4 Stars)

Most animated films made today are American. Companies like Walt Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks dominate the market. That makes it all the more refreshing to see a high quality animated film made in Spain.

"Mummies" takes place in the present day. As we know, Egyptians were wrapped in cloth to prepare them for the afterlife, and in this film we see their afterlife. When they emerge from their sarcophagus they descend through hidden passageways beneath the pyramids into an underground kingdom. As you can see from the poster above, the mummies only uncover their heads and retain the rest of their bandages. They put on any additional clothing and jewellery on top of the bandages.

The pharaoh has picked a husband for his daughter Nefer, the charioteer Thut. The problem is that neither of them wants to get married. It's a big decision. For normal people, marriage is till death do us part, which is only 40 to 80 years. For the mummies, it's thousands of years, possibly forever, because they've already died. Nevertheless, Thut is entrusted with the royal wedding ring. He lays it in a chest near the surface, a place where nobody goes, but the chest is broken open by gravediggers. The ring is flown to London to be put in an exhibition.

Thut travels to London accompanied by his brother Sekem, his pet crocodile and the princess Nefer. Thut's only desire is to recover the ring and return it to the pharaoh to respectfully refuse the marriage. Nefer is discovered by a music agent who turns her into a pop star, so she wants to remain in England.

It's always a pleasure going to the cinema with my grandson Oliver. He laughed out loud, especially when the mummies were racing through London in a double decker bus. I don't know whether he understood the humour about the intrigues in the music business. He didn't even know what (real) mummies are before I explained them to him on the bus before the film. Still, it's a great film for six-year-olds like Oliver, and it's even better for slightly older children.