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Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)



5/10



Starring
Ben Stiller
Robin Williams
Owen Wilson
Steve Coogan
Dan Stevens
Ben Kingsley


Directed by Shawn Levy


I wasn’t expecting much from this movie. The first part delivered all the required excitement that a night guard could have at a museum that comes to life when the moon is out.
I enjoyed seeing the oldies (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs play Cecil, Gus and Reginald respectively) playing the bad guys in the first Night at the Museum, and the fun mostly is the energy and stamina that Dick Van Dyke displayed when he played the ring leader of the antagonists in the first part.

For me it you want to enjoy this movie series just watch the first part, this part three was not it for me, I was bored after 20 minutes, but seeing Dick Van Dyke at 88 years old move, dance when all three oldies were at the Retirement home was an enjoyable sight.
The whole cast were called back to reprise their roles, from Owen Wilson to Robin Williams, although both Williams (suicide) and Rooney (natural) died before the movie was released.

Here in this part, the tablet of Ahkmenrah which brings the museum to life every night, is becoming corrosive and losing its power causing the museum characters to misbehave and edge towards wax even at night. Larry (Ben Stiller) decided to investigate the origin of the tablet and discovered that Cecil was the young boy who discovered the tablet years ago.
He meets up with Cecil and the other two retired guards at the retirement home and Cecil suggest that Larry meets with Ahkmenrah parents in the British museum where they are kept for answers. A new adventure began, where they had to get the tablet outside facing the moon so it can be restored. The only obstacle in their way is Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) who thinks the tablet is the Holy Grail and stole it, hoping to use it to win the heart of his beloved Guinevere.

Again the CGI in this movie was exceptional, but like the second part Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb was so not needed. The idea that any movie that did well in the box office should go ahead and be a trilogy should be shelved, it is becoming boring.

My take of this movie is, although I’m a huge fan of Ben Stiller, the late Robin Williams, Dick Van dyke and Owen Wilson, they were not enough to give this movie a reason to own the DVD collection.

Paddington (2014)



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Paddington (2014)



7/10



Starring
Hugh Bonneville
Sally Hawkins
Julie Walters
Jim Broadbent
Peter Capaldi
Nicole Kidman
Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington


Directed by Paul King

Regardless of the lackluster performance of the children in the movie, the movie was spectacular as the adult actors were on point and delivered the fun needed to make you entirely love this movie from the beginning to the end. The comedy was warm hearted and innocent I could not help but wish I could sit back and ask the controller to roll the movie again.

When I was younger and reading the picture book, I recall not much was said about the depth or the birth of Paddington. The decision to give Paddington a depth by the screenwriters was an added advantage.
The movie is based on Paddington Bear by Michael Bond. Paddington is a friendly bear from deepest, darkest Peru, who wears an old hat and carries a battered suitcase. He is too polite and mannerly, but when he is cross with you he inflicts a hard stare.
He was adopted by the browns who named him Paddington after the train station he was found.

The thing about Paddington is trouble always lurks around whenever he is concerned, and so it was in this movie. Paddington went home with the Browns, only to be haunted by certain Millicent Clyde who wanted to kill and stuff him for display.
Paddington wasn’t doing so well at the Browns either, finding it hard to fit in to a lifestyle of gadgets, baths, and toothbrushes.

Watching this movie made me reminisce on the days of Paddington when I was younger. I had the book and watched the cartoon series and was never tired of the bear that loved marmalade. Because of Paddington I had a taste of marmalade, but never got to love it like he did.

The loose ends in Paddington are so glaring, that you have to be high on the performance and the wonderful CGI to have missed that:
Paddington’s aunt left him to fend for himself, abandoned him is a better way to say it.
Then she went away not saying where she was going and then Paddington was sending her letters.
Well, the writers need to tie up the loose ends when they make a second part to this movie, something I know that they will be investigating, thanks to the financial returns this movie had. Paddington Bear is waiting for you to go buy the ticket or DVD and see him standout different from others and soon be a member of the Browns family.