NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB (SPOILER FREE REVIEW)

What Is It: Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb is third of the Night at the Museum movies, in which a magical Egyptian tablet brings everything in the American Museum of Natural History to life at night.  The films are based upon a children’s book by Milan Trenc.  In this film, the tablet is slowly eroding and losing its magic and Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) must travel to the British Museum in order to save it and his friends.  Notably this is the final film of comedy legends Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams.

My experience:  First off, I haven’t seen a kid’s film in the theater since, I think, Toy Story 3.  It was refreshing to see all the kids completely enraptured in a film without everyone criticizing and nitpicking upon leaving.  As fun as the movie was, I found myself bawling like a baby during Robin Williams’ final dialogue. 

Why You Should See It: It’s definitely a light hearted film suitable for the entire family.  If you’re just looking for a movie that is enjoyable and entertaining, I definitely recommend seeing this.  Especially if you enjoyed the previous movies.  Personally I found this one stronger than the previous Battle of the Smithsonian.  If that isn’t enough to draw you in, see it just to enjoy Robin Williams in his element one last time.

The Future: This movie concluded the trilogy nicely, and I think the absence of Robin Williams would be felt too keenly for any additional films to be made.  Hopefully the studio doesn’t try to stretch the franchise too thin to squeeze out an extra few dollars.  That being said, I would love to see some spinoff films or TV specials based around some of the other characters.  Who wouldn’t love to see a little more of the minifigures Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan)?  And someone PLEASE give me more of Rami Malek’s Ahkmenrah.