How does one get elevated from Night Watchman to Curator? I’d really like to know, because I haven’t seen that particular leap a great deal in this generation. Can’t vouch for other generations.
I ask this becuase Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb opens with black tie dinner/theater aimed at museum patrons and it seems to be hosted by Larry (Ben Stiller). I can only imagine how that conversation went down:
“Have we made arrangements for the museum endowment fundraiser?”
“Oh yes! We’re very excited. There’s going to be a show this year!”
“Really? How marvelous? What kind of show?”
“The exhibits are putting on a bit of a circus.”
“Really? Splendid? So will the museum be open then during the dinner?
“No, no. The exhibits will come to the dining room.”
“Which ones?”
“Well, the wax Teddy Roosevelt, the stuffed Genghis Khan, the cavemen, the t-rex skeleton …”
“Good heavens! Um … how? Do we have to hire a set of strong men to cart them out? ”
“Of course not! You see, the exhibits come to life at night.”
— pause — (realizes speaker is not joking)
“And all of them will be putting on a circus, will they?”
“Yes. Yes they will.”
“OK. And who is in charge of this … circus?”
“Do you remember Larry?”
“The night watchman? The college dropout? The one who has been at the center of all the mischief at this museum in the past few years?”
“That’s the one.”
“Is there anybody else running this show?”
“No.”
“Are you insane? Are you on drugs? Is this for real?”
“I assure you this is all on the level.”
“Then, I can say, without a doubt, that this is the very worst idea I have ever heard in my entire life … and you’re fired.”
Now, you won’t believe this, but the dinner actually doesn’t go as planned. Before long, Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) inexplicably goes haywire, leaps on a table, draws his saber an starts doing impressions of modern presidents. Whaaaaaa ?
For some reason, Larry manages to keep his job, and even manipulates his now-former boss (Ricky Gervais) into scoring a trip to London to explore the real problem: the magical Egyptian Toss Across game board. It is broken and needs repair. The answer is in the British Museum. Naturally, all of his wax pals come along for the ride because there’s nothin easier, security- or logistics-wise, than crating a van full of museum artifacts across international borders. It can all be handled by one guy, right? Oh, I’m selling Night at 
the Museum 3 short; it was one guy and his teenage son.
Thankfully, this ludicrous premise asked for no explanation because this film is all about the jokes, some of which are good — Ben Stiller does double duty as the caveman Laaa, who treats his doppleganger as his father. There’s also some fun with Laaa and British guardswoman Tilly (Rebel Wilson, quickly becoming one of my favorties). There’s a great tongue-in-cheek scene when Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) storms the musical Camelot only to confront (the “ridiculously named”) “Huge Ackman.” I had just started to wonder if paintings came to life, too, when a very clever chase scene occured involving Larry, Teddy and Lance and M.C. Escher‘s “Relativity.”
Why is “Relativity” in the Birtish Museum? Why is Escher’s “Reptiles” in its New York counterpart? Don’t ask. There’s a better Escher-based film somewhere out there. A much, much better one. But I appreciate the effort here, albeit failed.
Ben Stiller and wax dummies, once more,
Require passage to distant shore
Hijinks with Brits
And magic in fits
Now please quit before Museum 4
Rated PG, 98 Minutes
D: Shawn Levy
W: Mark Friedman, David Guion & Michael Handelman
Genre: Pointless sequel
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: People with a 2nd-grader’s understanding of history
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Historians/Curators
