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Ben Stiller’s latest movie, “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” premieres this Friday and so far the critics have not been very kind to it. This is the third, and hopefully final, installment in the series. All three have been directed by Shawn Levy.
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The new Night at the Museum Movie may turn out only to be memorable for being the late Robin Williams’ final appearance in front of the camera in a motion picture. His voice will be featured in next year’s “Absolutely Nothing.” Williams reprises his role as the “ghost” of Teddy Roosevelt come to life in a statue of the late President.
The sequel, as with the first two, is once again family friendly. But stiller might want to stick to his forte of doing R rated comedies like “There’s Something About Mary” in the future.
Here is just a taste of the critics’ reaction to the new movie so far.
Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said, “the franchise is seriously showing its age with what is purported to be its final installment.
“Despite relocating across the pond to the esteemed British Museum, the creaky Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb fails to capitalize on the comic potential provided by that change of venue.”
Rechtshaffen added, “it’s still a shame the franchise couldn’t have gone out on a more energetic note.
Writing in The Wrap, Alonso Duralde said, “we have to follow a plainly bored-looking Ben Stiller to London, ostensibly to fix the magic tablet that makes all the museum exhibits come alive at night, but really to put a button on this shrill kiddie franchise by turning it into a trilogy and suddenly pretending that the prospect of saying farewell to these characters will offer the emotional heft of Toy Story 3.”
“Perhaps director Shawn Levy was still in bourgeois family crisis mode after making the similarly unmoving and unfunny ‘This Is Where I Leave You, ’ or perhaps Stiller insisted on a more fleshed-out character before accepting one last paycheck for this series, ” he added.
This should not come as a surprise since the first two Night at the Museum Movies were also panned by the critics. Movie review site Rotten Tomatoes gave them each a mere 44% rating.
In spite of the critics, the first two installments in the series grossed $988 million worldwide between them. The third should also overcome its similarly poor reviews and is sure to be a huge hit this holiday season.
