Every story has a protagonist (hero or anti-hero) who must go through a journey and face conflict (otherwise things get really boring really fast). For the cases of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Night at the Museum, the people who fill these roles are Yugi Moto (and alter self Yami Yugi) and Larry Daley, respectively, and as these stories are clearly very interesting to a lot of people (look no further than box-office millions and no less than three spin-offs for proof), these characters do, in fact, go through journeys.
Larry's journey is a prolonged search for the self. He starts out by trying to find a stable situation to be able to keep living with his son, but once he becomes a successful entrepreneur, what he now needs to do, whether he realizes it or not, is find his way back to the situation which gives him the most happiness. It's unknown yet what his path will be for NATM 3, but given the trend, we may look at a fresh shot at love (with Rebel Wilson's character? Being a night guard, she would eventually come to know the secret) or trying to reconnect with a teenage Nicky, or both.
Yugi and his other self, on the other hand, have set roles for them (the 4Kids dub, at least, focuses quite a lot on destiny) which they must grow into. Yami is trying to recover his memories after spending thousands of years being a trapped spirit and then assuming the identity of an extension of Yugi for a while before the latter caught on that this wasn't the case, and Yugi is going through the natural process of transforming from the shy bully-target to the kid in charge of saving the world after coming face to face, multiple times, with much greater problems than bullies (who admittedly still act like it, making the job easier). Both of these are happening in conjunction with the various journeys of the surrounding characters, including the so-called bad guys (a very good quality in a so-called "kid's show", in my opinion), making them only stand out because they are the journeys of the principal characters and the fate of the world hinges on their actions more often than not.
That a character's actions determine some key element far beyond anything in their former experience is an element shared by both franchises. Yugi has to repeatedly help his spirit alter self stop baddies who openly express their desire to destroy/rule/recreate/etc the world. Larry has to first learn how to contain a powerful magical item to keep it out of the wrong hands and then stop a baddie who wants to take over the world, and presumably he will be doing the same again in NATM 3, considering who he's up against: Lancelot, possibly Robert Fredericks out for revenge, and possibly Sir Ben Kingsley's character (we won't know for sure, though, until the trailer comes out and the basic plot is revealed, but for now....?). It's a way of keeping the stakes high, in any given story. If the conflict focuses on something a lot greater than the protagonist is typically used to, the viewers/readers and the protagonist both are thrust into the journey of figuring the new situation out and then surmounting it (this typically takes the form of the underdog tale, a poor untrained sap against some villain who clearly knows what he's doing, a la Yu-Gi-Oh! (oh, GOD Yu-Gi-Oh!) and NATM, and countless other movies, shows, etc.). Classic storytelling device, still in use in these media and elsewhere.
Magical systems and general plot lines and premises may be different between these two franchises, but they share the similar elements of the use of Egyptian themes (for various reasons such as Egypt means mystical and cool and ancient, and it may in fact make sense, in the case of some Millennium Items and the Tablet of Ahkmenrah) and the core elements of a story which make it work. And they both interest me, and they may both interest you, as well.
P.S.: The post title is, if you don't recognize it, the title of one of the ultimate Hero's Journey songs of all time: "May It Be" from The Lord of the Rings.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": A fan mix for the Night at the Museum franchise and whatever else the reader may associate with it.
Countdown: 294 Days to NATM 3
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