Day Forty-Three: Night at the Museum

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

Starring:
-Ben Stiller
-Robin Williams
-Dick van Dyke
-Mickey Rooney

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Screenplay Credits: Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant

MPAA Rating: PG – mild action, language, and brief rude humor


I have no idea how many times I saw this movie when it first came out, but I do remember going to the cinema numerous times. Each time I took a different set of friends, and each time the results were the same: this movie rocks.

Ben Stiller plays Larry, a divorced dad whose life is going nowhere. He’s almost lost everything, and is forced to take a job as night watchman at New York’s Museum of Natural History. The museum is replacing their three old dude security guys (Rooney, van Dyke, and Bill Cobbs) with one man to save money.

Larry accepts his uniform, keys, flashlight, and a worn, dog-eared manual on running the place. He walks around, checks things out, and falls asleep. When he wakes up, all the exhibits start coming to life. I know! It’s awesome!

The T-Rex is my favorite because he’s like a big, slobbery puppy. He’s very playful and affectionate, and making him that way was a very smart move by the screenwriters. There are a couple of love stories going on, one between Sacajawea and Teddy Roosevelt, another between Larry and one of the museum tour guide people.

In the end, Larry figures out that everything comes to life because of a magical tablet that belonged to a young Egyptian pharaoh. The tablet not only brings all the exhibits to life, it made the three old security coots feel young again. I tell you friends; you have not lived until you have seen Mickey Rooney execute a pile driver on Ben Stiller.

One reason I praise this movie so highly is because it makes excellent use of two of our most talented, incredible living legends, Dick van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. It was so good to see them working on something like this, especially in “bad guy” roles that neither of them have had much experience playing.

Now, you have to be able to appreciate fantasy and tolerate the obligatory kiddie stuff (Good lord, Lawrence! Why are you slapping a monkey?), but any imaginative person who loves asking “What if?” could easily be captivated by this clever story.

I only just realized that Attila the Hun is played by the same dude who does Ken Tanaka in GLEE! How cool is that?


FINAL GRADE: A+


Off in search of gum-gum,

M.