The Night at the Museum franchise is back but in animated format. The fourth film centres around Nick Daley, Larry Daley’s son, as he becomes the new nightguard at the Museum of Natural History. The movie, which can be seen as a standalone, isn’t as bad as people think it might be. It achieves what it hasn’t done before; bought back a figure from history from a previous film. The Secret of the Tomb bought back Cecil, Gus, and Reginald before actors Mickey Rooney (Gus) and Robin Williams (Teddy Roosevelt) died. When the film’s trailer dropped, we were surprised that the second film’s villain, Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria in Battle of the Smithsonian), would be back for round two.
Oddly, there was only one reference to Ahkmenrah, Kahmunrah’s younger brother, who became king over him. Ahkmenrah was only indirectly mentioned at the beginning. Since it has been a while since we saw Secret of the Tomb, we had to check what happened with the boy pharaoh. In Secret of the Tomb, he remained at the London Museum with his parents, which might explain why he doesn’tdoesn’t in this film.
Where In The Timeline?
The timeframe for the fourth film is unclear, buhe’sck mentions he’s in his late teens. Also, the events of the previous movies are not referenced. Though, it does have connecting tissue with the reappearance of Erica Daley, Larry’s ex-wife and Nick’s mother. Teddy (now voiced by Thomas Lennon, a longtime franchise associate) mentions that Nick grew up at the museum and is the best person to take dad’shis dad’s position. Also, there was no reference to Erica’s fiancé, Don, from the first film.
Another strange part is the omission of the romance between Teddy and Sacagawea. This was always a massive part of the previous films. Also, the introduction of Joan of Arc wasn’t all that important. She was there as filler for Ahkmenrah. Some of the jokes worked, but others didn’t. They did flashback to the caveman, Laaa’s childhood of finding fire, but the thing that kind of ruined it, was he wasn’t aged down in the flashback.
Overrall, the film was okay. However, there’s a lot to be desired by this film.
Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again is now available on Disney+.
