Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

I watched a movie and it was called Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the third in the Night at the Museum series. It was directed by Shawn Levy, released in 2014. It stars Ben Stiller, Rebel Wilson, Robin Williams, and Ben Kingsley, just to name a few. The story is about how the museum is opening a new wing but there is trouble a foot as the magic tablet that brings the entire museum alive is getting a kind of corrosion on it and making the museum pieces act funny and somewhat dangerous. Larry, played by Ben Stiller, finds out that he has to go to England to the British museum to find out how the tablet works from the father of Ahkmenrah. Meanwhile, Larry’s son is growing up and needs guidance so Larry takes him along to England to talk to him about his future. Will they figure out what to do with the tablet?
This was a really great ending to this trilogy and really tied up a lot of loose ends, so to speak. Not that there was a lot of loose ends to say but it wraps up nicely and leaves it open for possibility.
It also features a subplot about fathers and sons and how it can be to deal with divorce for a single father. I know it is a kids movie, so that is missed on some of them but it is there and that added some important points to the plot as the movie progressed. The effects were really good, again utilizing the going inside paintings that they used in the second installment. The statues were a bit strange looking but that is to be expected from them since they are a part of history and making them move presented a challenge, I think that the animators overcame. Lancelot, played by Dan Stevens, was a bit over the top however he acted very well since that is how Lancelot was. He added a bit of spice to the original group that was much needed on this new adventure. Ben Kingsley, who played Ahkmenrah’s father, was outstanding as well, giving a heartfelt performance that was not so over the top. Ben Stiller played a dual role for this movie as well as a new caveman named La. It was interesting to have him in it but the same complaint about the second one comes into play with tedious replay of jokes. Though I have to say that the dialogue exchanged between Larry and Ahkmenrah’s father about the Jews was actually pretty funny and somewhat historical in-joke. That is the cool thing about these movies is that you actually learn something subliminally and the comedy is rooted in some history or at least in apocryphal historical data. Rebel Wilson plays the night guard at the British Museum and her character was kind of under-utilized, I thought, other than more of the same long jokes and a strange romantic interest in La which again was under-utilized and kind of shoehorned in there just to make an often reused movie reference.
Overall, it was a great ending to the series, I thought. All the old gang was back and it had a very sentimental ending which was not overplayed (save for one part in the climax) and a nice happy ending that was a nice send off. You can see all of them in order or out of order but in order so that way you know who all the characters are and what is more at stake in this adventure.