In an act of full disclosure, I must admit I have never seen "The Mummy" or "The Mummy Returns."

But I saw "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," and I don't know if I'll bother viewing the first two now.

There's a mummy. He wants to kill lots of things and rule the world, and he has a hugely unfair advantage because of all of his mystical powers and whatnot. It's up to Rick O'Connell, played by Brendan Fraser, and his dysfunctional family to save the day, of course.

Maria Bello steps in as leading lady in place of Rachel Weisz, who played Rick's love interest and wife in the first two movies. (Perhaps winning an Oscar makes one too good to star in action movie sequels?)

Bello seems an odd fit here, if for no other reason than her accent. It's a very good British accent, but it's too proper and measured, almost as if she would like to preface every statement with "Listen to my wonderful British accent." It's sort of like watching a younger Queen Elizabeth II wielding a gun, which is to say highly unnerving. I'm sorry to spend so much time dwelling on her accent, but it bothered me for a whole two hours.

Fraser, as Rick, runs and yells a lot. Sometimes he runs. Sometimes he yells. Sometimes he yells while running. (Those are the best bits.) Luke Ford, as his son, Alex, at least has his wits about him, though his love-at-first-punch plot develops out of nowhere.

I've never seen a movie with Jet Li before, and I can't decide if he's a good actor or a really, really terrible one. He flounces about once he has his skin back like a sulking child, entitled to everything and yet deserving of nothing. I figured that the greatest emperor to ever rule China would be a little more confident and cocksure, so I don't know if Li is a spoiled brat who can't act or just made some really odd decisions about his character.

So, in a nutshell: A bunch of odd actors, playing odd parts, with odd flaws, fight a lot. There are many explosions and many fight scenes in "Mummy," many of which are poorly filmed and hard to follow. There are many reasons I wish I could have stayed home.