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.

Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian

I watched a movie and it was called Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, directed by Shawn Levy, released in 2009. It stars Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan and Christopher Guest, to name a few. It is the sequel to Night at the Museum, which is becoming a franchise. The story is that Benn Stiller’s character gets rich on some inventions and has been gone from the museum as a night watchman for a few months. He finds out that his friends the exhibits are being replaced by digital representations and being shipped off to storage in the Smithsonian institution in Washington, D.C. (which turns out to be a giant compound). To make matters worse, the monkey brought the tablet that brings them to life along and things get even worse from there. Will Larry, played by Ben Stiller, get his friends back and save the museum?

This is a really funny movie with a lot of historical references in it, which came as a surprise to me considering this is a family film. For instance, Larry meets Amelia Earheart and George Custer in this installment as well as Al Capone, Ivan the Terrible and Napoleon.  The one thing I found most interesting is that they made a point to drop some historical knowledge about Amelia Earheart, at least two things which I certainly didn’t know, other than the obvious, that she was lost and a pilot. Amy Adams does a great job as Amelia and really conveys what would be her “can do” spirit. Plus there is a really funny joke when Stiller is talking to his son to get the directions in the back room of the museum and he says Stiller tells him he found Amelia Earheart and his kid freaks. It was a subtle joke but still funny if you know a little about her. Hank Azaria plays the “villain” in this as the Pharaoh, channeling some delightful Boris Karloff as the Mummy and comes off smashing. Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible is awesome as well considering he doesn’t say that much and it’s mostly standing and looking, well, terrible. It was a real straight forward movie that got right into the action and had some really good pacing for the most part. I did have some issues with the incessant use of “improv” between the characters, trying to up each other in lines, which got tedious in one or two scenes but there isnt too much of thankfully. I wonder if it was a 105 minute Smithsonian commercial since they went to the Natural History portion and the Air and Space portion. It doesn’t bother me since I haven’t been to either but it just seemed like it for the most part. Then again, I like museums so it was cool to see them running around and having adventures.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty funny sequel and it was pretty consistent with plot and very funny. There were only a few minor complaints but it is still worth seeing.