Night at the Museum (22 December 2006)
directed by Shawn Levy
starring Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Kim Raver, Patrick Gallagher, Rami Malek, Pierfrancesco Favion, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson, Mizuo Peck
|
MPAA rating: Studio: 20th Century Fox, 1942 Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment Script: Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon Based on the book by: Milan Trenc Music: Alan Silvestri Running time: 108 minutes Tags: Action; cavemen; Comedy; dinosaurs; Family Film; father-son relationship; lions; monkeys; mummies; museums; Roosevelt, Theodore; Sacajawea; security guards Tactical strength: [5/10]
|
for mild action, language and brief rude humor
Night at the Museum has an interesting premise: what would happen if all the displays in a natural history museum came to life at night? You can think of all sorts of interesting events such as cave men encounter civil war soldiers or monkeys wreaking havoc in the museum gift store. Of course to make a movie about a night watchman in such a museum, you have to create a suitable frame story that establishes the man and how he will react to talking statues from Easter Island. Night at the Museum does will with its comedy elements, but fails miserably with the frame story.
When you have a weak frame story, you have a pretty good chance that a large portion of the audience will forgive your poor plot if you throw in a cute kid. Thus, Larry (Ben Stiller) takes the night watchman job at the museum to provide a more stable setting for his ten-year-old son Nick (Jake Cherry). Larry's ex-wife Rebecca (Carla Gugino) has remarried with a well-established bonds broker -- a direct antithesis of Larry's life, where he keeps trying to make it big as an inventor. Facing yet another eviction, Larry takes the museum job as an attempt to demonstrate stability to Nick, who makes sad eyes at the prospect of his father moving again.
At the museum, Larry meets the retiring watchmen Cecil, Gus, and Reginald (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs). As the museum closes, the three old watchmen quickly hand Larry a list of "rules," tell him to follow the rules carefully, and quickly lock the door behind them. Larry quizzically reads rule one, "Throw the bone." As the tyrannosaur bones come to life, Larry must quickly throw one of the fossil bones in an oversized game of fetch. At this point, we reach the true premise of the film, and Ben Stiller does well at slapstick high motion comedy. He has help from some other very funny cast members: Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Owen Wilson as Jed the cowboy, and Steve Coogan as Octavius the Roman general.
Dragging down the romp and play of the premise, we must intrude with some of the boring and stereotypical frame story. The previous watchmen, Cecil, Gus, and Reginald want to steal the Egyptian artifact that causes the nightly animation. Apparently the artifact also has a rejuvenating effect on the geriatric trio, and they want to steal the artifact. Thus, Larry must deal with a museum filled with live lions and miniature Roman legions, establish a trusting relationship with his son, and foil the theft of the Egyptian artifact.
As well as Ben Stiller handles slapstick comedy, he abysmally fails at playing a father figure to a ten-year-old boy. In a couple scenes, Ben tries to put on a fatherly tone and makes a speech that the audience cannot take seriously, let alone the boy on the screen. We also get to compare Robin Williams to Ben Stiller in many scenes, and Stiller comes off a bumbling oaf next to Willams. Stiller looks like he has to work hard at his job, and Williams looks like he could just breeze through any comedic role.
The frame story leaves numerous loose ends, such as Reginald planting stolen museum property in Larry's apartment that we never see recovered. Ultimately Larry does impress his son (by taking him to the museum at night), foils the bad guys, and restores order among the museum inhabitants. You don't want to think too hard about the premise or the motivations behind the characters, but you can have a few good laughs watching Stiller in a typical slapstick role.
Related Items from Amazon.com
  DVD |   DVD |   Paperback |   Soundtrack |   Junior Novelization |
