I think the first time I heard about Night at the Museum was sometime over the summer. It was a few weeks later before I first saw a preview. The trailer made the movie look interesting and I've been wanting to see the movie ever since.

Larry Daley had trouble keeping jobs and was facing being evicted again. His ex-wife Erica believed that their son Nick shouldn’t spend as much time with Larry until his situation was more stable. Larry managed to get a job as a night security guard at The Museum of Natural History. The museum decided to cut back on expenses by replacing Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, the three old night guards, with one new guard. They left Larry with a list of instructions on his first night without any real explanations. Larry was shocked when he saw that all the exhibits in the museum came to life that night and he had to try to make sure everything was back to normal in time for the museum to open.

Night at the Museum didn’t have a complex plot. There was a bit of a back story related to the trouble that Larry had with keeping a job and how that was impacting his relationship with his son. That information was shared at the beginning of the movie which was a bit slow moving. That did provide the reason for why Larry ended up working at the museum and why he would stick around once he saw what was going on. Those things were brought up another time or two without them being the main focus of the movie. Instead, the movie was focusing on what happened inside the museum. There was another sub-plot that I don’t want to get specific about. I think it would be better for people to discover that one while watching the movie.

When I first saw the trailer for Night at the Museum, I did think it was going to be similar to Jumanji and Zathura. Those two movies were based on books and were about games that came to life. This movie had everything in the museum coming to life every night and then returning to normal each morning. The plot wasn’t the most original because of the similarity to those other movies but that didn’t bother me. This was still a very entertaining and fun movie. The reason for why the things in the museum came to life was different from the reason in the other movies. I thought there were enough differences so it wasn’t like I was just watching those other movies again. People that liked Jumanji or Zathura may also like Night at the Museum. People need to be able to suspend their disbelief to fully enjoy this movie since a lot of unbelievable things happened.

I thought Night at the Museum was a very funny movie. It had me laughing throughout the movie. The beginning was more serious since it was sharing the troubles that Larry had with keeping jobs so there weren’t many laughs early. Most of the funny things happened once Larry was at the museum. His reactions to the things he was seeing were very funny most of the time. Some of what happened was silly, but it worked for the movie. I wasn’t bothered by the silly things because I hadn’t been expecting anything serious from the movie. There were only a few gross jokes, mainly connected to the monkey in some way. There really wasn’t anything objectionable in the movie that parents would have to worry about since it was rated PG. I don’t remember hearing any swearing.

Most of the movie took place inside the museum. Larry was followed through three nights of work with all kinds of things happening each night. His time at work was far from boring and kept the movie very interesting. There was a decent amount of action once the exhibits came to life. Attila the Hun and his men were always trying to start fights. Before he actually started working, Cecil did take him around the museum on a tour which did show off several of the exhibits. Historical facts about some of the exhibits were shared throughout the movie. I did think that was interesting.

Special effects were used throughout the movie for several shots. I think effects were used for the dinosaur Rexy and the other animals that came to life. I believe that some effects were also used in the scenes when the exhibits were shown returning to their statue states in the morning. Some of the characters like Jedadiah and Octavius were miniatures, so effects had to be used in their scenes for them to look so much smaller than Larry. I did think the effects were well done overall. There was once or twice when something looked slightly off in a shot that included Larry and Jedadiah.

Larry had trouble keeping jobs for a while which had caused him to be evicted several times. He had big ideas that never seemed to go anywhere. He did love his son which is how he ended up working at the museum. I did think that Ben Still was good in the part. I have seen several of his other movies, though I haven’t liked some as well as others. Madagascar and Meet the Fockers were funny, though not my favorite movies. I did like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Starsky & Hutch better even though those movies were rather silly. Nick and his mother Erica weren’t in many scenes so they weren’t developed as much. Paul Rudd turned up briefly in a few scenes as Don, a man involved with Erica. The movie never said for sure if Don and Erica were just dating or if they were married. I’m guessing they were just dating since Erica had the last name of Daley in the credits.

Rebecca worked at the museum sometimes giving tours. She knew a lot about the exhibits and did answer questions for Larry that helped him deal with what was going on. Gina Gugino was good in the part even though she didn’t have many scenes. Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs turned up in a few scenes as the three night guards that Larry was replacing. Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson shared some scenes as Octavius and Jedadiah. Wilson appeared in Cars and You, Me and Dupree earlier this year. The only other movie that I’ve seen Coogan in is Around the World in 80 Days. He had a much larger part in that movie.

Robin Williams was in several scenes as the helpful Teddy Roosevelt. The character wasn’t as wild as many others that Williams has played over the years. Mr. McPhee ran the museum and was very particular about how things were done. I did like Ricky Gervais in the part. Many of the characters were part of the different exhibits that came to life and they really weren’t developed much like the Easter Island Head or Attila the Hun. I thought that worked for this movie since those characters didn’t have a lot to do.

Main Cast

Jake Cherry - Nick Daley
Bill Cobbs - Reginald
Steve Coogan - Octavius
Pierfrancesco Favino - Christopher Columbus
Patrick Gallagher - Attila the Hun
Brad Garrett - Voice of the Easter Island Head
Ricky Gervais - Mr. McPhee
Carla Gugino - Rebecca
Rami Malek - Ahkmenrah
Mizuo Peck - Sacajawea
Kim Raver - Erica Daley
Mickey Rooney - Gus
Paul Rudd - Don
Ben Stiller - Larry Daley
Dick Van Dyke - Cecil
Robin Williams - Teddy Roosevelt
Owen Wilson - Jedadiah

Shawn Levy - Director

Night at the Museum was a very fun, entertaining movie. It was a bit silly and predictable, but it was very enjoyable. I think it will be enjoyable as long as people don’t go into it expecting a serious movie. It is a good pick for a family friendly movie. Fans of Ben Stiller may also enjoy the movie.

Robin Williams Movie Reviews
Aladdin ~ Dead Again ~ Death to Smoochy ~ The Final Cut ~ Happy Feet ~ Insomnia ~ Man of the Year ~ One Hour Photo ~ Robots ~ R.V. ~


Recommended: Yes