[three-star-rating]Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Rebel Wilson, Ben Kingsley, Maya Rudolph, Ricky Gervais, Mickey Rooney, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Andrea Martin, Skylar Gisondo, Hugh Jackman[/three-star-rating]
History comes alive! Sort of.
As special effects-heavy joyrides, Night at the Museum – all three films – are absolute pleasures to watch. The third and supposedly final flick finds a little more poignancy. It still skimps on the plot unity and the ability to teach some actual history.
The set-up is still the same. Because of an ancient Egyptian tablet, all the displays in New Yorks Museum of Natural History come to life after the sun goes down. So, we get to see Teddy Roosevelt (Williams), a cowboy (Wilson), and Caesar Octavius (Coogan) run around with dinosaurs, Huns, Neanderthals, monkeys, and such. Stiller is the night watchman who oversees all this madness.
In the second film, their adventures took them to another museum, the Smithsonian. In this one, they travel across the pond to London.
The gimmick in Secrets of the Tomb is that the magical tablet has started to degrade, and it’s slowly killing the displays. The only way get answers is to pack up some characters and the tablet, go to England, and beg a pharaoh (Kingsley) to fix the tablet.
There’s already a lot of convolution here, but it gets more so. As a tacked-on story, Stiller’s son (Gisondo) is finally growing up, and he and his dad are arguing about his future. This is simply a shaky attempt to give the movie more heart. Unfortunately, this plot point has been explored in several other films, and much better. This father/son approach has very little to do with life in the museum. Secrets of the Tomb (written by entirely new writers than the other two Museums) also tries to draw comparisons to father/son relationships elsewhere, but these threads seem forced – it all seems cobbled together. Director Shawn Levy is great at action, but consistent storytelling is something that eludes him (the other two Museum films, This is Where I Leave You, Real Steel, The Internship).
It’s also a bit of a disappointment that – out of the whole London museum – they pick Sir Lancelot (an excellent Stevens, Downton Abby). No kings, no queens, no Shakespeare make their appearance. Just that one fictional knight represents all British history?
The moments of obvious improvisation generally work, though poor Wilson (Pitch Perfect) seems unable to pull out all the stops, because of the kid-friendly aim of this flick.
The skads and skads of cameos throughout the film can be seen as delightful or distracting. I personally found them entertaining.
[rating-key]
The plot sort of sags in the middle, as this flick succumbs into making a few too many big, crashing scenes and chase sequences that the kids will enjoy. It doesn’t do much for adults; it certainly doesn’t add anything to solidify the weak theme.
Yet, the special effects are top notch, eliciting well-earned smiles. Finally, the beginning and especially the ending are heartfelt – particularly because audiences know this is Williams’ last appearance on film. It’s also Rooney’s last role. Secrets of the Tomb does a beautiful job of wrapping this all up in a way that kids will love and adults will at least find enjoyable.
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