When Night at the Museum (2006) was released it was a box office success and the franchise has proven to be a successful trilogy to boot. Although it’s unclear probably to most, how much people really thought it would do well when it first began. It was such a strange idea making a hybrid adventure about something the History Channel would talk about and Pixar’s Toy Story (1995). That apparently was enough though to get audiences’ attention, not only watch it, but have it financially perform well too. Honestly, it’s nothing ground breaking. The whole franchise is more or less a standard kid friendly family adventure franchise. So to say it’s below average isn’t justified just because not all of the writing is expected to be pure art. Sometimes the most profitable things are of lesser quality. Essentially, that’s what the franchise is; escapist entertainment.
Of course that doesn’t mean its second sequel and finale to the franchise is perfect. It does however round out the stories into a nice little trilogy putting itself back in the same place as the original film. While the film was again directed by Shawn Levy, the writers David Guion and Michael Handelman are brand new to the franchise. They both have one film to their name of which was Dinner for Schmucks (2010). That’s not saying a lot but it’s something. The story is about again Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) back again at New York’s Museum of Natural History heading the evening night show until things go awry when Ahkmenrah’s tablet begins losing its energy. Meanwhile Daley is also trying to understand his up and coming son Nick (Skyler Gisondo) with what he plans for his upcoming career.
While to storytelling still slips a bit, the writers seemed to have reeled back the cluttering that was in Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian (2009). Make no mistake there are still some special appearances to be had, but definitely not the same volume as the first sequel. However, these are more like funny cameos as opposed to fully developed roles. What was nice to see was the return of Bill Cobbs, Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke reprising their security guard roles one more time to close the franchise. Despite this, there are still continuity errors riddled between this and the other entries. It seems like no one can tell or knows the full history. And there’s also a forced subplot involving another history figure developing a romance with another human, this time a night guard Tilly (Rebel Wilson).
Yes, it’s for comedic purposes but it makes no logical sense. This also happened in the previous entry, why repeat the same silly plot thread? Unfortunately, comedy in general is still a bit scattershot. Stiller continues to play his character the same way he has for the last two entries which is befuddled and straight faced which only works in certain situations. Other characters like Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) should produce a good number of laughs with what he gets involved in. Then there’s also the mediocre humor like a monkey urinating. Oh that’s so hilarious, please stop making the audience feel like mindless boneheads. Acting in general though can’t be knocked. Everyone performs as to what is called of their character. Everyone from Rami Malek, Ricky Gervais who’s looking better in health, Ben Stiller who’s not looking as spry as he usually does and lastly Robin Williams in his final on screen performance.
The special effects all around still hold up, except for maybe a select few. Considering the budget was less this time than last, it’s not bad. Handling the camerawork was Guillermo Navarro, the same director of photography behind Desperado (1995), Spawn (1997) and even Hellboy (2004). While each entry has had a different cinematographer, Navarro helps keep the consistency here too. Lastly the music was once again composed by Alan Silvestri who creates a score to fit this sequel like he did for the last two films. While it’s not the most memorable in his works, it does feel like he too put in even more effort since this was the last film in the franchise. It makes all the difference when there’s closure to a story and the music is right there helping it along.
The final entry in this series still has continuity issues and the comedy is hit and miss. That’s not to say it’s not worth watching though. The acting is still good, the effects and characters are also more focused. Additionally, the music and camerawork are consistent enough to make this a solid franchise to watch among families.
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