(2006, 108 min) Larry Daley (an enjoyable Ben Stiller) is a likable guy with big ideas that never pan out. His inability to keep a job or an apartment is playing havoc with his visitation rights for his son Nick (a nice performance by Jake Cherry). Even young Nick thinks it’s time for dad to shape up — he invites his mom’s stock broker fiancé to career day at school. To avoid eviction from his current digs, Larry takes a job as night watchman at the Museum of Natural History. He takes over from the three guards who have been there for decades (Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs and — hurray! — Dick Van Dyke), victims of the struggling institution’s attempts to economize. Things seem pretty quiet his first night. Until he notices the T-Rex is missing.
What follows answers the adolescent dreams of every geek and nerd who was pummeled in elementary school for a love of learning. The museum really does come alive at night: the ancient, the extinct, the stuffed wild animals and the assortments of fighters and foes from the beginning of history, animate when the sun goes down. The departing cadre of guards left written instructions for Larry on how to handle the inhabitants (it turns out the T-Rex just wants to play fetch), but the Capuchin monkey destroyed it. With fits and starts, Larry soldiers on, uncovering the secret of the Egyptian curse and discovering that his real problems lie with those he thought were on his side.
Robin Williams is a perfect Teddy Roosevelt, offering guidance and support to an overwhelmed Larry. Carla Gugino does nice work as a museum docent, and Stiller’s mom Anne Meara has a cameo. Ricky Gervais does his classic turn as a bureaucratic martinet, and an uncredited Owen Wilson also contributes.
Night at the Museum is model family viewing, equally accessible and fun for kids and adults. It captures the magic and fantasy experienced only in childhood, and offers a tale of a father who reaches beyond his limitations to redeem himself in his son’s eyes — and his own.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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