Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | Release Date: December 19, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
14
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernDec 19, 2014
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb has one thing going for it that even many of this season's prestige films don't: It's kind of fun, unembarrassingly, and not least of all because the people who made it look like they had a good time doing so. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 22, 2014
Playing Teddy Roosevelt in these films was nowhere near a highpoint for Williams, but it did speak to his fondness for these CGI-infused kids’ spectacles. His final farewell here is gentle, reflectively and almost unbearably moving. It lends the the film a retroactive grace. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekDec 18, 2014
The third installment, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb may be the best, and even the generally wound-too-tight Ben Stiller — once again playing a bemused Museum of Natural History guard — is easy to tolerate. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasDec 12, 2014
A most enjoyable capper to director Shawn Levy and producer Chris Columbus’ cheerfully silly and sneakily smart family-entertainment juggernaut. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackDec 17, 2014
Surprisingly well-crafted for something as aggressively dumb as this, the real surprise is the cast. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 19, 2014
The Night at the Museum tent pole has played fast and loose with history, and with our knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of the past. But I'm pretty sure a capuchin monkey never urinated on teensy-weensy figures of a cowboy and a Roman emperor as they ran for their lives from a lava flow in ancient Pompeii. That happens in Secret of the Tomb, and it seems like a fitting way to retire the show. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyDec 19, 2014
The SFX set pieces are pretty lame, mostly involving a lot of weary running around and tense, ticking-clock urgency. What elevates Secret of the Tomb is the classicism of its humour. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 18, 2014
The third installment of the Night at the Museum franchise, Secret of the Tomb, is better than its predecessors, funnier and more adventurous, thanks to a visit across the pond to the British Museum. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoDec 18, 2014
Seeing Ben Stiller, the late Robin Williams, and their magically roused gang together again, this time in London, is initially all about indulgent, nostalgic smiles rather than new wows. But then comes the movie’s exceptionally clever and fresh final act, which delivers genuine surprise along with many laughs. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 18, 2014
Rates as more determinedly heartfelt than the first and not as witty as the second (and best). Also, no Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart in jodhpurs this time around. Read full review
60
Total FilmNeil SmithJan 9, 2015
The most inventive sequence has Larry and Teddy plunge into an MC Escher painting, an interlude so dazzling you can almost overlook the weeing monkey. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoDec 22, 2014
Against the odds, perhaps, but part three injects a tiring franchise with new life and some surprisingly dark jokes. Some fun cameos and another winning Dan Stevens turn also add much needed unpredictability to the miniature goings-on. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldDec 18, 2014
It’s a chronically underachieving movie, but relatively amusing in its quaint wish fulfillment. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 18, 2014
The third Night at the Museum film starts strongly, with its heart in the past... It’s an exciting opening, and perhaps too exciting for the film’s own good. It’s hard not to be disappointed when the plot moves back to the present and settles into the time-honoured formula of digitised creatures running riot and famous people in fancy dress doing shtick. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 17, 2014
There are big special effects, of course, but refreshingly, this third (and final?) movie in the franchise is like a pleasant stroll through familiar halls. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyDec 22, 2014
The real problem for me is that every one of the films feels exactly the same, and this is where I think I'm at odds with what the studios want from these films. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyDec 17, 2014
Secret Of The Tomb plays it as a source of corny jokes, pop-culture references, and father-son bonding moments. In other words, it’s exactly the kind of film that shouldn’t be expected to engage with its assorted bizarre subtexts — but what a movie it could be if it did. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyDec 18, 2014
The adult viewer, reflecting on the idea that this is “just” a kid’s movie, might conclude that kids deserve a little better. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoDec 18, 2014
This film is mainly for “Night at the Museum” diehards. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 18, 2014
The special effects remain good, but the jokes are creaky, the sentiments are forced and the pop-historical lessons are obligatory. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartDec 17, 2014
For piquing kids’ interest in history and nature, you could do worse than this goofy Ben Stiller franchise. But its third installment is more meh than manic, too reliant on wide shots of the ragtag Museum of Natural History cohorts striding down corridors. You get the feeling returning director Shawn Levy is ready to hang it up. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyDec 19, 2014
The exhibits in this Night at the Museum may still come to life nightly. But their latest movie stays stubbornly inert. Read full review
40
CineVueJamie NeishDec 18, 2014
Looped around a paper-thin narrative that makes hardly any sense, Secret of the Tomb displays signs of fatigue right from the start. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 18, 2014
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is a rather lackluster affair, a cash grab that tries to aim a little higher but confuses sappy shortcuts with real emotion. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 18, 2014
The dialogue is schmaltzy and often painfully unfunny. The special effects are often so 1980s-bad... Time and again, terrific actors sink in the equivalent of cinematic quicksand, helpless against the sucking sound of this movie. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 17, 2014
Minor moments of slapstick may tickle the kids, but anybody older, especially those who remember what Williams was like in his prime and how funny Stiller was just two “Museum” movies ago, will wish this tomb had stayed sealed. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 18, 2014
The aptly subtitled Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is a blast of dead air and mummified humor. Read full review
31
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeDec 12, 2014
It's hard to get invested in the father-son dynamic here, even it when it represents a diversion from the limp comedy bits and the flatlined suspense. Read full review
30
TimeRichard CorlissDec 19, 2014
Did anyone have a good time making this movie? The actors seem to be reading their lines at gunpoint, in an enterprise whose mood is less summer camp than internment camp. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenDec 12, 2014
Despite relocating across the pond to the esteemed British Museum, the creaky Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb fails to capitalize on the comic potential provided by that change of venue. Read full review
25
The PlaylistDrew TaylorDec 22, 2014
Night at the Museum was always the best when it was closest to complete anarchy, tapping into the zippy, good-natured malevolence of filmmakers like Joe Dante, but here that energy is gone, replaced by a kind of sleepy noncommittal attitude. The magic has dried up; the museum is closed forever. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineDrew HuntDec 15, 2014
This third and supposedly final edition in the franchise is nothing more than an uncomfortably transparent contractual obligation. Read full review
20
The DissolveAndrew LapinDec 17, 2014
Even for the third entry in a family franchise, the construction is lazy to the point of indifference. Read full review
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