Under Wraps (1997)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Memorable, crazy movie

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is notable in being the first Disney Channel original movie ever made. These are movies that are better than the direct-to-video Disney films, but not by that much. This ended up being a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I was expecting a pretty corny Disney movie with little effort put into it. Instead, we have some really good child actors and a lot of amusing lines. This really can be surprisingly adult at times.They actually say words like "Divorce" and "Celibacy". The characters all have their own odd quirks and they play off each other quite well. It probably works best as a serious movie as even the jokes are less light-hearted than usual. It's still by no means a masterpiece as some of the scenes with the mummy are pretty hokey and it can be predictable. I'm still quite impressed by a TV movie that really did feel good enough to be a theatrically released film. If you're looking for an underrated Disney film about Halloween, this is your movie. ***

Three kids, Mario Yedidia, Adam Wylie, and Clara Bryant all of them into those monster/horror classics are spying on an eccentric neighbor played by Ed Lauter. They've heard all kinds of neighborhood rumors about how this guy just might not be quite human. But he's human enough to scare them off his place. But not before they discover an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus in his basement and the kids accidentally reanimate the mummy inside. After that the silliness kicks into high gear.And basically that sums it up for Under Wraps. This is obviously for a kid's G rated audience, but I'm not sure about what age people will think this funny instead of silly. The kids have an alleged adult as an accomplice in their adventure, Ken Hudson Campbell who runs one of those science fiction/horror type specialty stores. But he just looks foolish running around with the juveniles.Bill Faggerbakke plays the mummy and he's got a girlfriend mummy who was his sweetheart those thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt. He'd like to be reunited with her. Of course you'll remember this in a more serious vein as the plot of the original The Mummy film classic with Boris Karloff.This one doesn't come anywhere near, but it should give you an idea of what to expect.

This is a very entertaining movie about 3 sub-teenagers who encounter a mummy who has been awoken from its sleep and must be returned to the crypt before midnight Halloween. The "horror" content is about nil and the movie is suitable for viewers of all ages (I believe it is "G" rated). The mummy's encounters with people in the world are very entertaining, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It reminded me a lot of "Harry and the Hendersons".

When I first saw a commercial for this TV movie on the Disney Channel, I predicted that it would just be some dumb old thing that I wouldn't like with really bad special effects and a really cheesy plot line. It was quite surprising that I actually LIKED it and that my whole family (that includes my parents, 18-year-old sister, and eight-year-old brother) ended up watching it. We all had our own comments that we shared out loud during several scenes, involuntarily. {For example: My dad said something about how smelly Harold must have been. I remembered (out loud), "Hey! It's that boy from Picket Fences," and then after a few minutes, my sister said he was annoying. I personally thought that his CHARACTER was simply MEANT to be annoying. My mom also asked a lot of questions throughout the movie.}I really didn't care for the movie at the beginning but I became interested after watching the children break into Mr. Kubat's house and finding a mummy, Harold. It intrigued me that the boy, Marshall, treated the mummy like a dog. The movie made me laugh, but it wasn't factually realistic. If Harold was really walking around somewhere, I'm sure that his stench would have been too smelly for someone to just shrug off. The characters mentioned his smell, but I think that there should have been a more immediate reaction to it. I also think that the doctors included in this movie were really dumb, but that made it funny. I also wondered about other various things, such as how Harold understood English.Basically, I just liked this movie because it was hilarious. My laughter outweighed my questions, and I don't think that any movie can be flawless. It was a bit predictable, though. On another note, I couldn't stop staring at Harold's teeth.