La Nuit au musée : Le Secret des pharaons

In spite of the absence of a number in the title, this is the third (and last?) film in a franchise that I have thoroughly enjoyed for providing inventive entertainment (imagine a fight sequence inside a MC Escher drawing). Each movie has been based in a museum I know well and this time we are in my home city of London at the wonderful British Museum which means that the Elgin Marbles and other artifacts come alive. At the heart of the franchise is Ben Stiller, a comic actor with deceptively understated style, and this time he gets to plays two very contrasting roles, particularly funny when his characters interact.

If there are weaknesses in this outing, they are that perhaps too many of the original characters are involved (meaning that screen time is spread rather thinly between them), there could have been more original museum characters (the main one is Dan Stevens as Sir Lancelot), and it would have been good to have more female roles (Australian Rebel Wilson as the BM security guard is effectively the only substantive one). And, of course, there is the sadness of seeing Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney in their last screen roles.

All that said, this is a worthy addition to a really fun franchise which has probably now run its course.