Written by: Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon
Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Robin Williams
Rating: [3/5]
Visiting museums provides such a nourishing educational experience to anyone who decides to delve into what these exhibits display. Time capsules throughout history teaching things in a visually engaging manner. Certainly one of my favorite institutions for how it freezes these singular moments, but as seen in Night at the Museum these elements can come to life in ways one could never imagine quite literally. Whimsical in its approach, this feature brings plenty of fun in an imaginative approach to history.
Struggling to hold down a job to the point where he risks losing contact with his son, Larry (Ben Stiller) reluctantly takes an overnight security guard shift at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. When the sun goes down he notices all of the demonstrations and figures come to life and he must manage to keep everything contained or terrible things will happen to the inhabitants of the museum.
Centering a story where museum figures come to life stands as one of the greatest film ideas that provide a fun way to integrate historical figures into a whimsical story. It digs into a fascinating fantasy of what it would look like for the figures within a museum to actually move, but more importantly, interact with each other making for some intriguing crossings. Rivalries brew between American cowboys and Roman soldiers, but then we have other historical figures becoming acquainted that does raise a few eyebrows. This happens primarily through Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams) having unrequited feelings for Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck).
Now Theodore Roosevelt was many things during his Presidential tenure, but a lover of the Indigenous population was certainly not one of them. Making him have this love from afar for a very famous Indigenous woman in Sacagawea really raises the question of the reason for this pairing. Of course, the film addresses the reality of these exhibits not being the actual person in history, obviously, but it remains a strange pairing nonetheless. That does not detract from the performance given by Robin Williams, who puts on such a charming presence with this character. One of my favorites of his many fantastic roles, in the sensitivity he brings to a President mostly known for carrying a big stick in order to get things done.
Much of the fun this film has to offer comes from the exhibits but it monumentally fails when it comes to its villains that make so little sense. A choice that comes in as a reveal, so I will not openly discuss who it ends up being, but it felt like one of those choices where the feature needed to shoehorn a villain into the narrative. It surely could not be one of the exhibits within the museum that Larry needs to safeguard, so it goes in the most ridiculous way that almost deflates the entire feature.
Luckily, the emotional throughline that keeps it all from falling apart is the relationship between Larry and his child, Nick (Jake Cherry). Larry stays in this whacky position to purely hold down a job in order to not lose hosting privileges for his son, and this keeps him going even when he has money come to life and urinate in his direction or have Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) and his group chase after him. Everything comes back to the love he has for his son and ultimately combining this with the fun the premise of this film introduces allows this feature to continue to keep its head above water.
An easy one for kids to enjoy even if it does feel overly long in moments, Night at the Museum genuinely has strong elements all can find entertainment at any age. Things certainly get wonky in moments because of the over reliance of CGI to animate lions, elephants, and a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil running around the place. Taking on this job gives Larry a professional purpose outside of just trying to invent things to catch his big break that will likely never arrive. He just needed a job that will pay the bills, help him keep his apartment, and keep the custody he has with his son, which makes this whole experience worth it in the end.
Films with Josh 
