Third 'Night at the Museum' is breezy, bittersweet fun

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.

Another factor in its appeal is the bittersweet pleasure of seeing Robin Williams, who died this summer, on screen again. His third performance as Teddy Roosevelt is heartrending — low-key and genially funny in a way that seems all the more poignant given his larger-than-life persona.

Mickey Rooney also has a small, affable part in the action comedy (** ½ out of four; rated PG; opens Thursday in select cities and Friday nationwide).

Where the previous films felt frenetic and forced, this outing feels breezier, more enjoyable and less contrived. Though fitfully funny, it's appropriate for the whole family, offering a limited, but kid-friendly sense of history.

Ben Stiller reprises his role as Larry Daley, newly promoted from night guard to director of nighttime operations at New York's American Museum of Natural History. The exhibits continue to come to life after the sun goes down, as they did in the first Museum movie in 2006.

This time around, after the exhibits go haywire at a black-tie gala in the Hayden Planetarium, Larry embarks on a quest to save the museum and ensure that the magic that enlivens the animals and characters in the exhibits remains intact. (The public believes it's done with smoke and mirrors and animatronics.)

Turns out the ancient enchanted Egyptian tablet of Ahkmenrah responsible for bringing the exhibits to life is beginning to deteriorate. The only answer for restoring it appears to lie within the British Museum in London.

So, Larry and his son, Nick (Skyler Gisondo), transport key characters to the U.K. for more nighttime hijinks.

The film has a subplot involving father-son bonding, between Larry and Nick and the Natural History Museum's Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) and his British Museum-based pharaoh father, Merenkahre (Ben Kingsley).

The film's flashback opening features an Indiana Jones-style archaeological find that eventually leads to spry former museum official Cecil, played with verve by Dick Van Dyke.

Dexter, the Capuchin monkey, continues to smack Larry around and piddle about, but the ultra-silly slapstick scenes are blessedly kept to a minimum. There's also an after-dusk romance between a hirsute Neanderthal that looks eerily like Larry (played also by Stiller) and Tilly (Rebel Wilson), the night guard at the British Museum.

Capers involve Lancelot (Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens) — new to the series — who believes the tablet is his much-coveted Holy Grail. A funny segment involves him charging onto a West End stage during a performance of Camelot with Hugh Jackman (or "Huge Ackman," as he calls him).

The earlier, less-worthy movies spurred museum attendance in New York and launched a nighttime sleepover program at the Natural History Museum that continues. Hopefully this episode, filled as it is with comic talent and visual dazzle, will have the same effect in London.