I must admit, the idea behind Night at the Museum is very clever. At night at the natural history museum in New York the exhibits come to life and wreak havoc thanks to a mummy's curse. It's up to the new night security guard Larry (Ben Stiller) to keep the chaos from spilling out into the streets of New York and keep the exhibits from perishing in the light of day.
Larry is left this task after three longtime night guards, played by legends Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs, are let go. Let's just say they are a little bitter about being let go. They are kind enough to leave Larry an instruction manual but when Larry gets cocky, thinking he knows how to handle this situation, things go from weird to worse.
Larry would not have taken this job but his ex-wife Erica (Kim Raver) threatened to take away his son Nick (Jake Cherry) if he didn't find a steady job and place to live. No points for guessing that Nick will get in on the museum madness. You also get no points that the pretty museum tour guide, played by Spy Kids star Carla Gugino, will become Larry's love interest.
The best part of Night at the Museum is Robin Williams as President Teddy Roosevelt. Coming to life nightly to ride his horse throughout the museum, Williams' Mr. President is the most helpful of the museum exhibits and of course when it comes to delivering the moral of the story who better than a former President. Of course, Williams can't help but ham it up a little, but you expect that from Robin Williams.
Ben Stilller seems at a loss to keep up with the goofy CGI madness of Night at the Museum. Rushed through the exposition, his character is essnetially a deadbeat who nearly loses his kid because he's so lazy. Not exactly a winning character. Once inside the museum, Stiller's Larry vacillates from coward to cocky but mostly just runs around confused and angry.
Director Shawn Levy and writers Garant and Lennon hit all of the typical family movie beats, a lesson learned, bathroom humor and a monkey. They also toss in a couple action movie cliches for good measure including a chase scene involving an ancient stage coach and a miniature SUV. Trust me, my description reads far more interesting than the actual scene.
2
This whole movie is one giant leap into the magical realm of suspended reality that Hollywood is so good at creating. Can museums really come to life? No --- but man, it be cool if they did. Keep your eye out for my favorite (and in my opinion, the funniest) scene from the film in which Larry finally confronts Attila the Hun, who makes a habit of chasing him down and attempting to dismember him each night. Larry squares off against Attila and his barbaric horde, and proves he's in control by bringing Attila to tears. You have to see it to truly appreciate the humor. I also enjoyed the keys stealing monkey, Dexter, and his crazy penchant for causing Larry a lot of trouble. As far as special features go, this particular disc only has 2 audio commentaries available. If you're wanting more than that in the special features department, you're probably better off purchasing the 2-disc special edition.
3
The movie is almost exactly as you expected it to be. CG fun, family friendly with a soft conflict and cute resolution. It did everything it was supposed to and felt very formulaic. The movie earned a few giggles out of me, but I am not calling it the comedy event of last year. I think if you have kids this movie would be perfect for them. It is light, cute and has some cool imagination behind it. It had a very Jumanji/Zanthura feel to it, but even lighter still.
Some of the CG was very good. Like the Dinosaur that we all saw in the preview. He was awesome. Some of it was not so good, really bad layering and backdrops, it felt very rushed and is very noticeable to the normal movie watcher. It kinda leaves you going hmm, that looks kinda weird. Its not as bad as it could be, but you do see it and makes me wonder, if they ran out of money and had to skim a bit.
The movie comes with a truck load of actors in the movie. All of whom did fine. I didn't feel love for anyone, but I wasn't turned off by anything either, this movie did just what it needed to, to get by. [tag]Ben Stiller[/tag] was normal Ben Stiller, doing his normal guy thing. No character, no surprises as far as that goes.
I think it's rentable for sure, and if you have kids, its a for sure recommendation. I would think it would still be a good choice to take them to see in the theater, if you are looking for something for them, and don't want to go see Bridge to Terabithia this weekend.
4
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. Yes it's silly and predominantly a children's movie, but it also had some humor in it for the adults. I guess it reminded me of all the old Bugs Bunny cartoons I grew up watching. I enjoyed them as a child, but watching them again as an adult I saw whole other levels of humor that I never got as a kid. There were a lot of great comedians in this one, too. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, etc. Stiller takes a job as a night watchman in a museum only to find out that the exhibits come to life after closing. Chaos ensues. It's not high drama filled with cutting social commentary, but you'll at least laugh.
5
I am so impressed that there was no bad language or sex in the movie. I am not sure if the mom had a live in boyfriend or not but if she did they didn't focus on it so your kid may not even pay attention to it. Being a Ben Stiller movie it was not as funny as I expected because I was expecting a laugh all the way through and loud movie but it was a normal comedy. I am giving it a 5 star rating because it had top-notch actors and the creators and actors were able to keep it clean, something rare in the movies.