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.
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