The Night at the Museum trilogy which this episode caps has never been one of great import.  Young audiences should appreciate the notion of historical figures and skeletons of dinosaurs coming to life in a museum after hours, but the primary pleasure I have had watching these films occurs when Dexter the monkey slaps star Ben Stiller repeatedly (I like to imagine Dexter is a film critic doing what we would all like to do once in a while).

With the passing of “guest” stars Mickey Rooney (who had a small role in the first film and a tiny role here) and Robin Williams (who seems sadder than usual as Teddy Roosevelt), it was time to bring this franchise to a close.  Director Shawn Levy has helmed all three installments, somewhat rare for a popular trilogy, and he brings things to a bittersweet close.  I was not quite prepared for the sentimentality that hangs over the conclusion, yet it feels appropriate and moving all the same.

There’s still too much clowning around for my taste, mostly on the part of Stiller, who essays two roles, but perhaps children have more tolerance.  Some of the museum material is funny, and setting much of the action in England is a welcome change.  On the other hand, that setting introduces Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens), which throws a monkey wrench into the plotting.  Lancelot is a loose cannon who ends up on a West End stage with Huge Ackman and Alice Eve.  Nothing about the film’s path there or its extrication is smoothly handled.  And yet, at the end, with Robin Williams saying farewell, it doesn’t matter.  I still had tears in my eyes.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is not a good movie; none of these movies has been particularly good.  But if you enjoy them their creation has not been in vain. On the plus side, two of the three films gave Dick Van Dyke, Rooney and Bill Cobbs gainful employment, and this one provides Williams (and only Williams, not Rooney) a nice send-off.  Dexter the monkey also provides a touching farewell.  Finally, I also liked the very last shot of Stiller, outside the museum, fully aware of the party inside but unwilling to intrude.  Such restraint was a nice touch, a fully adult moment at the end of a kids’ fantasy.  ☆ ☆.  26 January 2015.