Film Review: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Rated PG (mild violence and some scary scenes). 98 minutes. Directed by Shawn Levy. Screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman.

Verdict: The third instalment of this popular series is a very special experience.

Since its debut in 2006, Levy’s Night at the Museum series has enjoyed a rare kind of popularity. Based on its rock solid family-friendly entertainment values and some wonderfully inventive special effects, enjoying a Night at the Museum movie became something like catching up with old friends. This third, and apparently final, instalment is almost no different.

Its sobering point of difference is that it marks the final onscreen performances of the genius Robin Williams and Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney, both of whom passed away last year. Rooney’s role in this film (as one of the museum’s pensioned-off security guards), unlike his presence in the first one, is small. But for lovers of Hollywood film history, seeing Rooney (whose career began with a short film made in 1926) working the camera with his trademark mischievousness one last time, is a brief but precious gift.

Watching Williams work for what would be the last time, is an entirely different proposition – and one that marks this film with a kind of melancholy that, strangely, suits it perfectly. Guion and Handelman have obviously been briefed to wrap it up, and Ben Stiller’s Larry is on a mission to ensure that the Golden Tablet does not continue to disintegrate to the point where the magical coming to life of the museum’s exhibits is gone forever.

Levy, who has directed all three movies, ensures that it runs like clockwork, and the return of the regular cast members (including Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson’s miniature cowboy and Steve Coogan’s miniature Roman soldier) ensures a sense of respect the ensemble have for the power of this always entertaining, magically realistic fantasy.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Rated PG (mild themes, action violence, sexual references and coarse language). 114 minutes. Directed by Ben Stiller. Screenplay by Steve Conrad, based on a short story by James Thurber.

Verdict: Romance and adventure go head to head in this uneven tale about daring to live the life you always dreamed of.

As ideas for potentially fascinating films go, Thurber’s short story (published in 1939) about a day-dreamer who escapes into the fantasy realm to escape his mundane existence is inspirational source material.

Previously adapted for the screen in 1947 with Danny Kaye in the title role, Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness) has a bet each way on just how interesting the story will be in 2013. By setting his very loose adaptation in the headquarters of LIFE magazine as it faces imminent closure, Conrad surrounds the fantastic central premise of the story with too much baggage. Walter (Stiller, in a fine, understated performance) becomes the butt of too many workplace bullying jokes, and his romance with co-worker and single mum Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) feels awkwardly contrived and takes up far too much screen time.

But once the second act kicks in, Conrad and Stiller’s vision for the story finally takes flight, as Walter sets off on an adventure to retrieve a missing negative that world-renowned photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) was supposed to have provided for LIFE’s final cover.

The sequences in Iceland, where Walter finds himself confronting the wild and unpredictable environment are beautifully realised, and Stiller’s performance as a mild-mannered geek from New York forced into previously unimaginable heroics is wonderful to watch.

Problematically, the film ultimately appears to duck the profoundly personal message at the core of its source, which is that is possibly more liberating to convince yourself of just how capable you are of living the life you always wanted, than by obsessing about what others think of you.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.