It's hard to believe the first Night at the Museum movie hit our screens in 2006, the CGI infused family friendly adventure striking a chord with its target audiences that we got a sequel in 2009, and now, twelve years after it started, the trilogy comes to a close with Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. All the usual suspects are back for an adventure that sees security guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) finding out that the tablet that brings the exhibits of the American Museum of Natural History, including wax figures of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Atilla the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), and miniature figures Jebidiah and Octavious (Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan), to life after the sun goes down is losing power, eventually putting an end to the exhibit's night time activities. Discovering the secret to saving his friends may lie in London, Larry travels to the British Museum to investigate.
Secret of the Tomb feels like a more subdued affair than the loud, chaotic, and hugely entertaining pop of colour that Night at the Museum 2 was, but it follows the formula of the sequel to the letter, putting the tablet in a new location and letting a new set of exhibits run riot. The story leaves room for a lot more heart than previously seen from the series, with the movie definitely feeling like a farewell to the characters, and two of it's sadly lost cast, Mickey Rooney and Williams. It moves forward at a brisk pace, the story related to us in easily digestible bursts (but still been pretty thin on the ground), while the gags and spectacle come in quick bursts. It doesn't shake anything up from previous installments, director Shawn Levy having found the sweet spot to keep his audience happy, giving us plenty of gags to keep the laughs coming, including a neat Godzilla reference and an extremely funny, and surprising, third act cameo. Kids will lap it up, while the adults in the audience won't find themselves totally checked out of proceedings. But it lacks some of the inventiveness we have seen from the series in the past, with only a surreal trip inside a M.C. Escher drawing really building on the potential of the concept.
The plot chugs along to a satisfying conclusion, but only gives Larry anything to do, the rest of the cast being surplus to requirements, and attempts to relate the main plot to Larry's own troubles with his now teenage son Nicky (Skyler Gisondo) feel extremely forced, with the whole sub plot feeling tacked on. All the returning cast play their characters perfectly (this is their third go around after all), while the new arrivals is more hit and miss. Ben Kingsley as the Pharoh Merenkahre and Rebel Wilson as Larry's British counterpart feel like they are phoning it in, their scenes severely lacking in energy. Thankfully, Dan Stevens makes up for both of them as an extremely fun and silly Lancelot (well, you do know what Monty Python said about Camelot), the movie picking up whenever he's on screen. With this, The Guest, and his turns in Downton Abbey and A Walk Amongst the Tombstones, he has definitely cemented himself as a name to watch out for in 2015.
A step down in terms of the creativity and inventiveness shown in it's predecessors, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb still delivers perfect family friendly viewing.
Secret of the Tomb feels like a more subdued affair than the loud, chaotic, and hugely entertaining pop of colour that Night at the Museum 2 was, but it follows the formula of the sequel to the letter, putting the tablet in a new location and letting a new set of exhibits run riot. The story leaves room for a lot more heart than previously seen from the series, with the movie definitely feeling like a farewell to the characters, and two of it's sadly lost cast, Mickey Rooney and Williams. It moves forward at a brisk pace, the story related to us in easily digestible bursts (but still been pretty thin on the ground), while the gags and spectacle come in quick bursts. It doesn't shake anything up from previous installments, director Shawn Levy having found the sweet spot to keep his audience happy, giving us plenty of gags to keep the laughs coming, including a neat Godzilla reference and an extremely funny, and surprising, third act cameo. Kids will lap it up, while the adults in the audience won't find themselves totally checked out of proceedings. But it lacks some of the inventiveness we have seen from the series in the past, with only a surreal trip inside a M.C. Escher drawing really building on the potential of the concept.
The plot chugs along to a satisfying conclusion, but only gives Larry anything to do, the rest of the cast being surplus to requirements, and attempts to relate the main plot to Larry's own troubles with his now teenage son Nicky (Skyler Gisondo) feel extremely forced, with the whole sub plot feeling tacked on. All the returning cast play their characters perfectly (this is their third go around after all), while the new arrivals is more hit and miss. Ben Kingsley as the Pharoh Merenkahre and Rebel Wilson as Larry's British counterpart feel like they are phoning it in, their scenes severely lacking in energy. Thankfully, Dan Stevens makes up for both of them as an extremely fun and silly Lancelot (well, you do know what Monty Python said about Camelot), the movie picking up whenever he's on screen. With this, The Guest, and his turns in Downton Abbey and A Walk Amongst the Tombstones, he has definitely cemented himself as a name to watch out for in 2015.
A step down in terms of the creativity and inventiveness shown in it's predecessors, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb still delivers perfect family friendly viewing.
