Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
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.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
More meh than manic, too reliant on wide shots of the ragtag Museum of Natural History cohorts striding down corridors.

Name : Soren Anderson / Alias : Seattle Times
What is unexpected is the depth of emotion of many of the situations .

Name : Walter V. Addiego / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
Mainly for "Night at the Museum" diehards.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
Where the previous films felt frenetic and forced, this outing feels breezier, more enjoyable and less contrived.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
It's a hectic pileup, this movie, but at least in its final laps it takes the time to say its goodbyes more or less properly.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
The exhibits in this "Night at the Museum" may still come to life nightly. But their latest movie stays stubbornly inert.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
Let the dust finally settle on these museum pieces.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Like many a sequel that has exhausted its plot possibilities, Secret of the Tomb looks abroad to add color and culture.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
There are some key elements that make this "Night at the Museum" sequel work better than its predecessor.

Name : Tony Hicks / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
Levy - who directed all three movies - just couldn't muster up enough freshness to make this installment stand out from others.

Name : Ignatiy Vishnevetsky / Alias : AV Club
Frankly, there isn't a whole lot about this scenario that isn't disturbing on some level.

Name : Tom Russo / Alias : Boston Globe
Assuming Wilson isn't being eyed as Stiller's replacement (or are we starting rumors?), it's satisfying to see this series ultimately shake off the relic dust and bow out with energy.

Name : Nicolas Rapold / Alias : New York Times
A diverting and, here and there, rather funny journey for the museum stalwart Larry and his menagerie of Teddy Roosevelt, a miniature Roman general, a Neanderthal, a capuchin monkey and others.

Name : John Semley / Alias : Globe and Mail
Funny, charming kiddie-flick fare.

Name : Joe McGovern / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
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.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Granted, this series is primarily for kids, but nobody should feel dumber after watching a movie with "museum" in the title.

Name : Kristin Tillotson / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
Ben Stiller and crew go for the easy laughs, spackling the cracks in their armor with a cavalcade of marquee-name cameos and one dizzying action scene after another.

Name : Michael Rechtshaffen / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Time to hang up the "Closed for Renovation" sign.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
It's all dumb, but fun.

Name : Tom Huddleston / Alias : Time Out
The most worthy figure from British history the writers can think to reincarnate is - wait for it - Sir Lancelot.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Williams glows briefly in one of his final roles, but the overall magic feels dim.

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
There's a serenity to museum visits, especially if it's a place you know and love. "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," amazingly, recaptures that feeling in big-studio franchise form.

Name : Michael O'Sullivan / Alias : Washington Post
Other than some stock establishing shots of London, the British setting is wasted, as are Ben Kingsley and Ricky Gervais, who, at times, seem almost embarrassed to be caught on camera.

Name : Lindsey Bahr / Alias : Associated Press
In the end, "Secret of the Tomb" certainly wasn't necessary, but its earnest goofiness is hard to resist.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
"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.

Name : Scott Foundas / Alias : Variety
An altogether satisfying end to a series that has been vastly more entertaining than it had any reason to be.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
Ben Stiller, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais - all of them were considered edgy when they first arrived on the scene, but for some performers an edge is just something you use to pry open the piggy bank.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Because when young children go to see a movie about dinosaur skeletons and a capuchin monkey who come alive at night in a museum, what they really want is to hear a divorced dad nagging his teen son about the value of an education.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
"The Witch" feels at once sticky with tangible detail and numinous with suggestion.

Name : Ethan Sacks / Alias : New York Daily News
There's not much of a coherent plot that's been summoned up to go along with those impressive visuals.

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
[Eggers] proves to be an original and accomplished storyteller with much more to offer than cheap shocks.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
What makes this chillingly creepy little black-magic folk tale work so beautifully is its evocative sense of time and place . Well, that and composer Mark Korven's unsettling soundtrack full of screechy, dissonant strings.

Name : Brian Truitt / Alias : USA Today
The first great film of 2016 is a horror flick with Puritans, possessed kids, naked forest women and a haunting goat named Black Phillip.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
To my taste, the movie finally feels rather one-dimensional, basic. But there's no disputing its awful power - it gets under your skin .

Name : Justin Chang / Alias : Variety
Writer-director Robert Eggers makes an impressive feature debut with this gripping historical horror-thriller.

Name : Molly Eichel / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
The Witch is a stressful movie to watch, and that's meant as the highest praise.

Name : David Lewis / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
It's clear that this beautifully made film wants to root its horror in the less-is-more approach. But in this case, less is often just less.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : TIME Magazine
The Witch has been made with extreme care, and part of what makes its supernatural elements so terrifying is that Eggers is also in tune with the more ordinary challenges of just being human .

Name : Amy Nicholson / Alias : MTV
Like the Puritans themselves, the movie shuns drama. It has too much moral virtue for jump scares.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
With incredible attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to the world he has created, Eggers slowly, surely builds tension until it's almost unbearable. And that's delightful, if you're a horror fan. It's a terrific film.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
For fans of horror at its most sinister, "The Witch" is not to be missed. It casts a spell that lingers long after its most disquieting mists have cleared.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
This phenomenal debut feature by Robert Eggers has a singular style and tone, and its horror flows from the deepest wellsprings of human nature.

Name : Jake Coyle / Alias : Associated Press
What makes The Witch more than a mere museum reclamation project is Taylor-Joy.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Eggers creates a special feel and ambiance in his first feature after a couple of shorts.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
For once in a modern horror film, the tactics and developments are simple yet surprising, and the filmmaking captures its chosen time, place and dark corners beautifully.

Name : Dan Callahan / Alias : TheWrap
Isn't afraid to go to some dicey emotional and sexual places in its pursuit of its theme, and it has the sense to let some things remain unexplained because they are scarier that way.

Name : Sara Stewart / Alias : New York Post
It's a creepy little gem, and its imagery will stay with you long after you've left the theater.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
Writer-director Robert Eggers is said to be detail-obsessed, and it shows.

Name : Bill Zwecker / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
From the very opening scene in The Witch, we are immediately thrown into an ominous journey that conveys pending doom.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
With a gentle rap-rapping, Mr. Eggers intensifies the shivers with art-film moves, genre shocks and an excellent cast that includes a progressively rowdy menagerie.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Building his film on the diabolical aftershocks of Puritan repression, Eggers raises The Witch far above the horror herd. He doesn't need cheap tricks. Eggers merely directs us to look inside. Be warned: It'll scare the hell out of you.

Name : Randy Myers / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
For anyone seeking an intelligent, atmospheric American horror story reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne and the Brothers Grimm, "The Witch" is the kind of pure movie magic that sends chills up the spine.

Name : Alan Scherstuhl / Alias : Village Voice
All the dour zealotry is enlivened by horror elements that edge The Witch toward a welcome pulpiness - and greater honesty about what hokum the film actually is.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
As a horror movie . the film's only flaw may be that that's how it reductively sees itself - as just a horror movie.

Name : A.A. Dowd / Alias : AV Club
As straight horror, The Witch is something special, transporting audiences to a bygone era that would look plenty frightening even without the paranormal activity that engulfs it.

Name : Chris Vognar / Alias : Dallas Morning News
Minimalist, slow to burn and utterly confident in its style and tone, Robert Eggers' Colonial New England fairy tale earns its chills the old fashioned way, through timing, atmosphere and skill.

Name : Barry Hertz / Alias : Globe and Mail
A feature debut of startling confidence, Robert Eggers's The Witch is not only an excellent horror film, but also a captivating study in extreme paranoia and the fragile bonds of family.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
This bravura first feature by writer/director Robert Eggers leaves the viewer shaken and wondering, "What just happened?"

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
I would prefer seeing a failed attempt at something different than a regurgitation of every modern horror trope. Yet The Witch proves unable to capitalize on being different.

Name : Robert Abele / Alias : Los Angeles Times
It isn't engineered for hopped-up date-night scares, but its blanket of moonlit dread is certainly form-fitting .

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
One often enters the theater hoping to discover an innovative talent who could be "one to watch" or "the next big thing." Wait no longer, Eggers has arrived.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
The Witch" isn't typical gorehound material; it has an art film prestige and a commitment to period authenticity.

Name : Liz Braun / Alias : Toronto Sun
Helped by along by a great cast, a haunting soundtrack and terrific attention to period detail, The Witch is an auspicious feature debut for writer-director Robert Eggers.

Name : David Sims / Alias : The Atlantic
The movie's first-time director, Robert Eggers, blends authenticity with black magic, and the result is giddying.

Name : Will Leitch / Alias : The New Republic
The Witch is wrapped up in its own views of religion, of sin, of feminine power, but more than anything else, it is wrapped up in itself.

Name : Soren Anderson / Alias : Seattle Times
Eggers' depiction of the family's psychological decay and his relentless piling up of deeply disturbing imagery make "The Witch" an unnerving and fresh-feeling horror masterwork.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
Eggers doles out the horror sparingly and eerily: an image of blood in a milk pail, a moving shape in the shadow of a barn. The movie uses lamplight and hearth light to conceal as much as they reveal.

Name : Scott Tobias / Alias : NPR
The Witch immediately joins the pantheon of great horror movies, with the caveat that it's just barely a horror movie at all.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
Like any truly successful horror film, "The Witch" operates on various levels at once and is open to interpretation.

Name : David Ehrlich / Alias : Slate
Robert Eggers' uncompromising directorial debut is a bracingly new experience that boils with the primordial fever of America's original sins.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
An unsettling journey back to a time when Satan seemed much closer to our world.