“Night at the Museum: Kahmunra Rises Again” Movie Review
The new animated sequel to the beloved “Night at the Museum” live-action trilogy was a cute addition to the series, but was definitely geared more toward small children than the group of people who were kids when the original series came out.
In the original trilogy, the story follows a man named Larry Daley who is a new night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Larry, played in the original films by Ben Stiller, discovers that when the sun goes down, everything in the museum comes to life, and obviously some crazy hijinks ensue.
“Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again” follows the story of Larry’s son, Nick, taking over his father’s former job as night guard as his summer gig. Similar to his father, he has a crazy adventure while he’s on the clock.
Nick Daley is freshly 18, an amateur DJ, and a skater voiced by one of Disney’s current stars, Joshua Bassett. He is awkward and nervous, and is not very excited to be taking over his father’s former job.
After seeing that he is too afraid to ask out the girl he likes, Nick auditions for jazz band, which doesn’t go too well. Larry thinks that this job as the night guard will boost Nick’s confidence, and after some convincing, his ex-wife agrees.
We are greeted with the animated versions of the same beloved characters from the first movies, like Teddy Roosevelt, Sacagewea, the miniature Octavius and Jedidiah, and even Dexter the capuchin. There is even a new addition to Larry’s old crew in the patron saint of France, Joan of Arc.
On his first night, Nick is given some pretty simple instructions by his dad: lock the loading dock and lock the basement door. He completes neither of these tasks successfully, leaving him and his historical friends with a bit of a problem.
In the loading dock, the fictional ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Kahmunrah, is breaking out of his box, ready to make another attempt to execute his plan to raise an army of undead warriors. Kahmunrah was the main antagonist in the second film in the original trilogy, and he had a similar plan which was foiled by Larry Daley.
When Kahmunrah breaks out, he manages to steal the tablet of Ahkmenrah, which is what holds the magic that makes all of the characters come alive at night. He plans to use this to wake his undead army and become the ruler of the world.
After a battle sequence in which an Egyptian pharaoh fights Joan of Arc, Kahmunrah manages to escape to another museum that has an Egyptian temple on display, where there is a portal to ancient Egypt, and the gang follows him there to get the tablet back.
The adventure continues to ancient Egypt, and includes the god of chaos, a temple full of booby traps, an undead army and a musical puzzle. Nick and his band of historical heroes go on the adventure of a lifetime, concerned the whole time because they have to be back before the sun rises or they’ll all turn to dust.
This new addition to the “Night at the Museum” trilogy is clearly geared toward a younger audience, but it shares the charm of the original films. The animation in the film is reminiscent of some of Disney’s older shows, like Kim Possible, which also adds an element of nostalgia for fans of the original series.
The cast of this film is also pretty stacked, and includes the voice talents of Steve Zahn, Jack Whitehall and Thomas Lennon. Lennon was tasked with filling the shoes of the late, great Robin Williams, who played Teddy Roosevelt in the live-action version and he filled those shoes beautifully.
This movie was a pretty run-of-the-mill cheesy, animated children’s film, but it captured the essence of the original films well, and was a sweet addition to the trilogy.
Rating: 3/5
Izzy Charboneau is a second-year student majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email ijc5186@psu.edu.
