Tuth is a young Egyptian charioteer who has stopped participating in chariot racing after an accident that gave him a fear of speed. Nefer is the princess daughter of a pharaoh who must succeed him to the throne not before having found a husband, while she only dreams of singing in public. Both live in an underground world of mummies where Tuth’s little brother Sekhem also lives with his pet crocodile. Sekhem hits the phoenix with his boomerang who had to identify the ideal husband for Nefer and the choice falls by chance on Tuth, who does not want to marry, but knows that if he refuses he will be severely punished.
But the wedding ring is stolen by Lord Carnaby, an archaeologist who discovered the existence of the world of mummies, and Tuth and Nefer, with Sekhem in tow, will have to return to the world of the living to recover the stolen ring.
Mummies – A walk through time is a fun adventure between ancient Egypt and the present day that manages to follow the dictates of political correctness to the letter while retaining a measure of grace and irony.
So Nefer is a princess who knows how to fight and who wants to independently choose what she wants to do with her life, Tuth suffers from insecurity, Ra could be a goddess instead of a god (“Is that a problem?” Nefer asks defiantly) , and so on. Contemporaneity also forcefully enters ancient Egypt in the form of selfies, aspirations from talent shows, fandoms and signing copies, to the detriment of historical reliability: and bending the story of the Egyptians to current tastes makes us regret that minimum of authenticity of The Prince of Egypt . But there are also amusing details that have evidently involved research into the uses and customs of the Egyptians, such as Sekem’s boomerang, which actually seems to have existed at the time of the pharaohs.
But the adventure is captivating and well directed by Juan Jesús García Galocha (the production is Spanish, even if the film was shot in English with Anglo-American actors) and there is a lot of irony in the musical numbers, which obviously include the eighties classic “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles but also an excellent musical number in which Nefer improvises within a musical version of Verdi’s Aida.