A third opus; it’s like a hit or a fail! Either you leave a saga feeling a little bit nostalgic, or you think “Oh no, please not another one…”
Even though I am not a big fan, I still had a great time watching it. Truth is, Ben Stiller and his comic genius work perfectly well. And by his sides, there are a flock of guests (Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Ricky Gervais…) surely, it helps!
Guess what, Ricky Gervais, an actor/ stand up artist quite polemic in the industry, is for once mocked on screen (for those who missed the episode, he hosted several times the Golden Globes with a corrosive humor, not appreciated by everyone).
Besides, you’ll notice the nice introduction of Lancelot, played by Dan Stevens (“Downtown Abbey”), the British touch, quite caustic always with plenty of self-derision, and Rebel Wilson’s performance, a museum watcher completely eccentric that gives a phenomenal twist! This actress is quite trendy these days, as the new queen of the best comedies (Brides Maids, Bachelorette…)
Another actor stands out, Skyler Gisondo, Larry’s son (Ben Stiller), who demonstrates a real complicity with the other cast members, and gives a nice consistency to the movie. So, you get a nice bunch, which push kids to go back to museum as an attractive place of discovery & imagination with many jokes especially made for the parents. The director Shawn Levy and his 7 writers have written the movie in a smart way and with a lot of movie references.
My favorite sequence is the face to face between Ben Kingsley, as a Pharaoh, and Ben Stiller, as a museum watcher, debatting about Jews and their traditions. Try to imagine the scene! Ben Kingsley as a Pharaoh, completely detached from the Jew cause, when he played few weeks ago Moses preacher in “Exodus: Gods and Kings” (review here), (and he also played himself Moses in 1996) So very funny!
Introducing the article, I was talking about what you could think watching this kind of movie. For this one, I felt nostalgia because even though it is a funny movie it was also a bit emotional. Emotions, when you have to say goodbye to a bunch of friends and most of all to one special actor, always perfect, even in one of his last performances, who left us way too early: Robin Williams of course.
A very nice moment guaranteed for the whole family.
