Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum (2006)

Directed by: Shawn Levy
Written by: Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant based on the novel by Milan Trenc
Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Mizuo Peck, Rami Malek, Patrick Gallagher, Pierfrancesco Favino, Kim Raver, Paul Rudd, Crystal the Monkey

I guess this is sort of a kids movie... I dunno. Whatever. It reminded me of some of those things I went to see at the IMAX so many years ago. I think this played on IMAX, actually...

Anyway, it's about this guy who goes to work as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History so his kid doesn't think he's a loser. Little does he know, everything in the museum comes alive at night to duke it out, and he has to make peace between them or some damn thing.

Meanwhile, the former night guards who he's replacing are trying to get him fired, cos, you know, they're evil.

So it's borderline lame, but the cast is just so irresistible. They make the clichés seem less so (of course, the big disco dance party at the end sort of cancels it out). But it's cute while it lasts.

Anyway, I guess the Reno 911! guys wrote it, so it's got that going for it. I guess. They're toned down a bit, I must say. Still, it was quite a bit funnier than some other crap I've seen. This may have also been the aforementioned casting. I was never sure about Ben Stiller, but I guess he's pretty funny.

Also, the FX were not too bad (mainly because the digital creatures didn't really have any flesh - i.e. a walking dinosaur skeleton or a talking Easter Island head).

It did stop and start a bit. I dunno. It sort of bugged me when he kept leaving and coming back and getting fired and rehired all in the space of, what, three days? And when the hell did that guy sleep, anyway? He's trying to keep the museum from falling apart all night and trying to be a dad all day. Poor bastard.

So fairly entertaining and not too patronizing. It keeps the butt jokes to a minimum (hee hee! Butt jokes).

Anyway, I haven't eaten yet today, been writing, so I have to go make a piece of toast or something (and mmm, another cup of tea), but I'll come back afterwards. I just can't keep away!

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