Review of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) by Henry P — 29 May 2015

This franchise really comes to life in its final installment. After seeing the tablet of Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek as the Pharaoh, not the tablet) bring the New York Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institute to life, we travel across the pond to wake up the London Museum of Natural History.

This film opens in Egypt, 1938, during an archeological dig, when some kid named CJ accidentally discovers Ahkmenrah's tomb and the tablet that has brought life to this franchise. Fast-forward to present day, and we find Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) head of the night program at the New York museum, but things go awry when the "special effects exhibits" go haywire, causing Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams in one of his last film roles) to point a gun at the attendees of the planetarium opening.

After that, Larry confronts CJ (Dick Van Dyke) about the tablet, and goes to the London museum with Ahkmenrah, Teddy, Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck), Atilla the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), and even the tiny duo of Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan) to awaken Ahkmenrah's parents (Ben Kingsley and Anjali Jay) so they can discover the secret of the (Wait for it) tomb.

On the way, they meet Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) and other British artifacts the tablet awakens. The main cast does a splendid last-time performance, making them the real source of life in this film. At this point, I actually came to care about Dexter, Teddy, Sacagawea, and all the others.

I still must point out however, that the visual effects went back to the state of the first one: Ok, but clearly fake in some parts, especially when Jedediah and Octavius are with the rest of the cast.

You can clearly tell those are green-screened extreme close-ups. Am I sounding cynical? Take a screenshot, it'll last longer! Returning to the large format did not work, seeing as Battle of the Smithsonian's narrower ratio kept it from looking cheesy.

Alan Silvestri does a great job with the soundtrack in some places, just doing his job, and creating a sense of wonder at what happens at night. It's all as funny as ever, but Dexter pee jokes seem really unnecessary.

In the really long run, maybe Night at the Museum as a franchise shows that some movies work better animated than live-action/CGI hybrids. There is nothing wrong with being creative, but these would have looked better in CGI animation, and I bet the cast would have done their voice roles just as well as they did here.

A fitting conclusion to another live-action/CGI hybrid that should have just been animated.