NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast:Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Dan Stevens, Rebel Wilson, Ben Kingsley, Rami Malek
Runtime: 1 hr 28 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: 20th Century Fox 
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/

Opening Day: 25 December 2014

Synopsis: With the help of favourite and new characters, security guard Larry Daley travels to London to unlock the true secret that brings the museum to life. It's a thrilling race against time to restore the tablet’s power, before it’s gone forever.

Movie Review:

Following the success of the first two installments comes the third, and supposedly final, movie of the Night at the Museum series – Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb. For the uninformed, the movie revolves around museum exhibits from the American Museum of Natural History coming to life at night due to the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Akhmenrah, and their shenanigans which, more often than not, causes Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), the night watchman, trouble.

In this movie, Larry is alerted that the Tablet is losing its power, and he travels to the British Museum of Natural History in hopes of finding out what is happening from Akhmenrah’s (Rami Malek) father. Comedy and (you guessed it) trouble ensues when the British Museum comes to life for the first time, and Larry must navigate through the museum with Sir Lancelot, Asian folklore monsters, and a Triceratops coming in between him and the Egyptian exhibit.

The writer must admit that she is not a huge fan of the comedy genre, finding them generally lasting much longer than they should. However, this movie manages to avoid that, having a mix of seriousness and comedic moments throughout the one and a half hours to prevent the movie from getting tiresome. That said, the inclusion of Rebel Wilson as Tilly, the British Museum’s night security guard, is pretty cringe-worthy, made worse by her affair with Laa the Neanderthal.

On the other hand, what makes the movie interesting is the inclusion of history and mythology, often taken out of context. Watching Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams) drunkenly sprouting famous lines, and Sir Lancelot riding across modern London to Camelot is amusing due to their anachronism. An eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii, though, brings to mind some questions (will this be a nightly occurrence? Will the lava really melt the figurines?).

That said, the movie is not singularly comedic, having some serious (or as serious as the movie could be) moments as well, emphasizing the importance of family and the relationship between Larry and the exhibits. While Larry struggles to accept Nick’s (Skyler Gisondo) decision to DJ in Ibiza, Akhmenrah reunites with his (revived) family, previously separated by the treasure hunters and profiteers. The Tablet also nearly loses its power, rendering the exhibits (almost) dead, and garnering more than a few sniffs from the audience. Although such scenes usually come across as trying too hard, The Secret of the Tomb does this surprisingly well, striking a good balance between being touching and corny.

Perhaps the (small) highlight of the movie was the appearance of Hugh Jackman as himself acting as King Arthur in a play, which comes as a welcome surprise. Other than that, Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb plays it safe by sticking to the tried-and-tested formula from the previous two movies, not providing much unexpected twists, but not boring the audience either.

Movie Rating:

(Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb will probably not disappoint audiences, giving them what they expect to see [moving wax figures, random tidbits of History], making it a family-friendly film to catch this holiday season)

Review by Goh Yan Hui