‘Night At The Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’ on Disney+ Hotstar Movie Review: A Pale Shadow Of The Ben Stiller Franchise

‘Night At The Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’: Cast and Crew

Director: Matt Danner

Actors: Joshua Bassett, Jamie Demetriou, Alice Isaaz, Gillian Jacobs, Joseph Kamal, Thomas Lennon, Zachary Levi, Alexander Salamat, Kieran Sequoia, Jack Whitehall, Bowen Yang, Steve Zahn

Available at: Disney+ Hotstar

Duration: 1 hour 17 minutes

‘Night at the Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’: History

Nick Daley follows in his father’s footsteps as a night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History, so he knows what happens when the sun goes down. But when Kahmunrah escapes, it’s up to Nick Daley to save the museum once and for all. Will he be able to save the museum just like his father had done three times before? Or will he fail in his pursuits and his father must rescue him? Will the inmates at the museum be good to the new night watchman? Or will they be hideously mean and hateful towards Nick Daley? Well, for all this you have to watch the movie.

“Night at the Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again”: Performances

The previous ‘Night At The Museum’ films had very distinct representations of all the characters, which were led by Ben Stiller as the night watchman. But this time it seems more like a coming-of-age story about a little boy. The fun and unpredictable joy that Ben Stiller brought to the previous three films was sorely lacking in this one.

‘Night At The Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’: Script, Direction and Technical Aspects

Hats off to Matt Danner for having the guts to pick up the same concept again and churn out the fourth film in the franchise. It was only the first part of the franchise that you are fascinated by the action of the museum that comes to life every night. But in the subsequent films, it was the acting and the story that created an impression. Here, Matt Danner had a good plot twist with the son taking over from his father as night watchman, but unfortunately the film has been turned more into a coming-of-age drama than a funny slapstick comedy.

The writing by Ray DeLaurentis and William Schifrin is the film’s biggest soft spot. The film starts where the previous part left off and gives a little spin to it. Instead of the night watchman in the previous 3 parts, the role is now passed on to the son. Up until this point it was good as a plot, but the way the rest of the script is written, it simply tries too hard to live up to the legacy of the previous films. The jokes aren’t as funny, the slapstick humor isn’t as funny, and above all, the voices of the characters don’t look as real and feel more like a dubbed version of a foreign language movie.

The animation is decent. Getting the era right must have been a huge task and the creators managed to get the different eras quite accurately.

However, the editing by Luc Perrault is sharp. And he’s managed to keep the film’s running time to less than an hour and a half, which is a steal for a story like this.

Nothing stands out in John Paesano’s music.

“Night at the Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again”: Can Kids See It?

Yes

Outlook’s verdict

‘Night At The Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’ is a pale shadow of what the franchise used to be with Ben Stiller leading from the front. From the very beginning, the franchise was a children’s fantasy fiction, but it ended up being loved by the adults as well for its superb stories and performance by the lead actors. Unfortunately, with it becoming an animated film, it has lost its fun element and can be loved by children at best. The adults would definitely be extremely bored watching this fourth installment of the franchise. My suggestion – bring it back to a live-action format from the next installment – whether you want to bring back Ben Stiller or not is another question. For now, ‘Night At The Museum – Kahmunrah Rises Again’ is completely avoidable. I’m going with 1 star.