Review ‘Night At The Museum: Secret of the Tomb’ From The Editor

There was a lot of potential and charm in the most recent “Night at the Museum” movie, but the timing of the jokes and action just felt off the entire time. There were some good moments. Robin Williams certainly shined with the material he had to work with. The material really wasn’t that bad. It could have been a lot more entertaining if more energy had been put into post production.

Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson deliver the best laugh out loud moments. Franchise newcomer Dan Stevens offers a couple of giggles as Lancelot, particularly when he offers on meta commentary about what makes Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) so funny. His emotional arc in the film, like so many other things in the movie, falls flat due to the production delivery.

Where to go from there? How about the British Museum in London? Fantastic idea!

What “new” thing could they introduce there?

How about a museum guard (a Stiller comrade in “arms”) played by Rebel Wilson, a Lancelot come to life in the form of Dan Stevens and Ben Kingsley as the Pharaoh Merenkahre — who is key to our all-new mystery? Bloody brilliant!

If you like the Night at the Museum movies, then you’ll love Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. All of our favorite characters are back, including Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt (sadly, the last time we will see him on screen), Steve Coogan as Octavius, Owen Wilson as Jedediah and Patrick Gallagher as Attila the Hun.

As previewed in the Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb trailer, Stiller is back at the New York Natural History Museum and it’s a big night where all the glitterati will be present. The tablet that we all know makes these museum residents come to life each night is having issues. It’s fading and its power is weakening. That causes havoc during the fundraiser and Stiller must head to England to discover the source of the tablet’s power and how to fix it. And yes, the gang comes along too… even that cute little monkey.

One new character that is introduced absolutely steals the film and that is a caveman named Laaa who has an uncanny resemblance to Larry. It helps that he’s also played by Stiller. It is fantastic to see a new comedic Stiller character that has to rank up there with some of his best, and we even mean Zoolander! And don’t get us started on the comic explosiveness of the scenes with Stiller as Laaa and Wilson!

The story is a decent store and the resolution is actually done fairly well compared to a lot of the film. As the characters journeyed through the British museum to save their own lives, they run into a number of obstacles that are meant to be funny, but are merely annoying.

They serve to make members in the audience more anxious for the movie to end. This film would be ok to watch on TV when the weather is nasty, but it’s not worth any effort beyond that.

Our Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb review feels that, sure, we’ve added a new locale and some fantastic fresh characters (particularly Stevens as Lancelot, who knew he was so funny?!), but the richness of the first two movies is off, just a bit in this third flick — something Lennon and Garant might have been able to do something about.

And one last thing… the film is quite a goodbye to Williams. They handle it brilliantly.