Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

 Well, it is certainly better than the second movie, but not as entertaining and funny as the first movie. I love history and the various figures from the different time periods. It is a cool concept that worked for the first movie, and it works somewhat here. I think the script is far weaker that the first movie.

The magical tablet from the first two movie is starting to lose its power and all the figures start to malfunction. The gang goes to a British Museum to figure out what is going on to the tablet.

Shawn Levy's direction is rather bland and doesn't stand out. Levy isn't the best director overall to make these effects heavy movies or comedies. I think Levy should have gone through the script a few more times.

Robin Williams is very good as Teddy Roosevelt. It is very sad to see Williams in basically his last role. He was the best thing about the first two movies. I am really saddened that this will be his final performance. He truly is Roosevelt in this movie. There is a nice callback to the first time Roosevelt and Stiller first meet, where he scares Stiller. I love that moment.

Speaking Stiller, the caveman version of Stiller isn't very funny at all. I hated every time they cut to the caveman Stiller. I know Stiller wanted a silly character to play, but it just comes across as really annoying. I cringe every time he was on screen. It just doesn't work.

Like I wrote above, the characters are pretty fun and seeing new characters appear in the second act. The visual effects are really good and are the highlights of the movie.

This movie does contradict the mythology of the first two movies in a way. From what I can tell, the power of the tablet only brings things to life only when the tablet is in the area. If the tablet isn't there, nothing really comes to life.

And, the key to getting the tablet to regain its power is to raise it in front of the moonlight. Really? It is like they ran into a problem their third act and just came up with the easiest way to solve their key issue.

Then a certain character has a heel-turn which just doesn't make sense. Then, this character switches again and becomes a good guy. I think the movie needed a bigger villain than a confused guy with misguided virtues.

Hugh Jackman and Alice Eve make cameo appearances as themselves. It doesn't really work that well as a scene, but there is a nice X-Men reference. The score even plays the X-Men theme. And, Rebel Wilson is very good as the London counterpart to Ben Stiller's character.

While it isn't as good as the first movie, it is certainly better than the second movie. It doesn't have the charm and wonderment of the first movie, but there are some funny and fun moments. I do believe this should be last movie in the franchise. It does bookend the movie franchise fairly nicely despite some major flaws with the script.

Grade: C+