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Night at the Museum [WS]

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Night at the Museum DVD
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Night at the Museum [WS] on DVD


The new night watchman at New York's Museum of Natural History finds that the job comes with more responsibility than he ever dreamed in this wild fantasy comedy directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke. Larry Daley (Stiller) is a kind-hearted dreamer who always knew that he was destined for greatness, he just never quite knew how. None of his ideas or inventions has panned out, so with a heavy heart, he takes a regular job as a lowly graveyard-shift security guard at the Museum of Natural History in order to provide a more stable life for himself and his ten-year-old son. His first night on the job, however, he finds that guardianship of the museum is far from stable -- at nightfall, an Egyptian spell brings the artifacts and wax figures to life! With Attila the Hun charging to war through the hallways, the diorama miniatures embroiled in a deadly feud, and a two-ton Tyrannosaurus Rex nagging to play fetch, Larry has half a mind to turn tail and run. On top of cleaning up after two million years of historical chaos every night, he also has to make sure that not a single museum piece leaves the building -- from the bratty Capuchin monkey in the African exhibit, to the life-sized Neanderthal in the prehistoric display -- because if morning light falls on an escaped artifact, it will turn to dust. Larry turns to a wax replica of President Roosevelt (Williams) for a little advice on keeping things in tact, but Teddy seems to think that a man of Larry's greatness needs little help. Larry isn't sure if the former commander in chief is right; this is hardly what he signed up for, but he can't pass up the chance to care for a museum where history really does come to life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
  • Sound By: Dolby Surround
  • Released By: 20th Century Fox
Commentary by director Shawn Levy
Commentary by writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon

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  • Night at the Museum DVD
Night at the Museum DVD

Editorial Reviews

It's pretty rare for a movie to evoke laughter and delight for audiences both young and old, but Night at the Museum pulls it off. The film stars Ben Stiller as Larry, a divorced dad who's reluctantly given up his dream of entrepreneurial stardom to take a position as the night watchman of the New York Natural History Museum so he can provide more stability for his son. If the sound of an inanely sweet family-oriented comedy makes you want to wretch, however, you have nothing to fear. Night at the Museum occupies itself with Larry's personal story just enough for you to follow him on his wild ride.

This film doesn't kid itself: you don't see a movie about a museum where the dinosaurs and mummies spring to life at night because you want to learn a heartwarming lesson. What you want from this kind of fantastical adventure is a couple hours of fun, and this is Night at the Museum's brilliantly simple secret to success. It skips many of the sappy and contrived cliches of the PG realm and doesn't spend too much time revisiting Larry's home life. Instead, the film lets Stiller (along with straight-man co-stars Carla Gugino and Jake Cherry) bring Larry to life through his reactions to what you came to the movie for in the first place: the magic.

Stiller is a delight in this regard, at long-last finding a comedic balance between his squeamish, embarrassment-comedy side (a la Meet the Parents) and his over-the-top, bombastic-farce side (a la Dodgeball). With just enough restraint to play the foil for the funny and enchanting special-effects ensemble, he conjures up an average guy we can both laugh at and cheer for -- all while exercising a great skill at physical comedy, of which there is plenty. Stiller throws himself into dives, pratfalls, and chases with impressive energy and deft control (suggesting that he must be in seriously good shape). But along with all the slapstick you'd expect from an adventure comedy, Night at the Museum also benefits from the ironic wit and smart satire of screenwriter Ben Garant (Reno 911!). The result is a clever trick: while your grown-up side is sated with the kind of dry humor that marks Stiller's collaborations with Owen Wilson (who co-stars as a miniature cowboy from an Old West diorama, but spends most of his screen time feuding with Steve Coogan, a miniature Roman Emperor from the warring display next door), the kid in you is free to revel in childish wonder and excitement so completely that when the requisite dorkily happy ending appears in the distance, you probably won't even notice. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi