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 excitement you’d want from a night guard’s adventures 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, who played Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, respectively—as the bad guys in the first Night at the Museum. The fun mostly came from the energy and stamina Dick Van Dyke displayed as the ringleader of the antagonists in the first movie.

For me, if you want to enjoy this movie series, just watch the first part. Part three wasn’t it for me—I was bored after 20 minutes. That said, seeing Dick Van Dyke, at 88 years old, move and dance when all three oldies were at the retirement home was an enjoyable sight. The whole cast was called back to reprise their roles, from Owen Wilson to Robin Williams, though both Williams (who died by suicide) and Rooney (who passed naturally) died before the movie was released.

In this installment, the tablet of Ahkmenrah—which brings the museum to life every night—is becoming corrosive and losing its power. This causes the museum characters to misbehave and start turning into wax, even at night. Larry (Ben Stiller) decides to investigate the tablet’s origin and discovers that Cecil was the young boy who found it years ago. He meets up with Cecil and the other two retired guards at the retirement home, and Cecil suggests that Larry visit Ahkmenrah’s parents at the British Museum for answers. A new adventure begins as they try to get the tablet outside under the moonlight to restore its power. The only obstacle in their way is Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens), who believes the tablet is the Holy Grail and steals it, hoping to use it to win the heart of his beloved Guinevere.

Once 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 felt unnecessary. The idea that every successful movie should automatically become a trilogy needs to be shelved—it’s getting boring.

My take on this movie? Even though I’m a huge fan of Ben Stiller, the late Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, and Owen Wilson, they weren’t enough to give this movie a reason to own the DVD collection.