Night At The Museum

Although I dissed Night At The Museum back in early December, I read in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly that the movie has grossed over $360 million dollars worldwide, with over $200 million of that from domestic box office.

I guess all those millions of movie-goers forgot to read The Film Geek that day.

Never one to judge by cover alone, I and The Film Geeklings hit Pullman Square for a day of fun and amusement.


And between the fun and the amusement, we saw Night At The Museum.




Ben Stiller is Larry Daley, a divorced father who's rather lazy and a bit of a schemer. He's never grown up, really, and as he advances in years he's becoming more and more of a joke. He can't seem to hold a job, moves often to avoid eviction and can't seem to earn his son's pride. To avoid eviction and make points with his kid, Daley takes a gig as the night watchman at the Museum of Natural History. Where, at night, the museum comes to life.

Literally.

Stiller is fine as Daley, which earns him chops points with me. Many of his scenes had to be filmed alone due to the tech needs, I would presume, and he pulled that off well. Dick Van Dyke has a rather large supporting role, and plays the character Cecile with a lot of zest. Mickey Rooney plays another security guard, an irritable old coot named Gus. Rooney was a riot, and I wished he had more air time. My biggest laughs involved scenes he was in. Robin Williams was really good in his serious role as a Teddy Roosevelt wax dummy.

Night At The Museum is a family-type film, so the laughs didn't come from some of the more risque bits the audience is used to from a Ben Stiller film. Museum relies on some obvious jokes and animal hijinks's (from a monkey named Dexter) to get the crowd to chuckle.

My ten-year-old loved it. My six-year-old says she did. My three-year-old liked it until his ration of gummy bears ran out.

Me?

I told you so back in December.