How many family films are actually family friendly at all levels? Night At The Museum is. If you watch this film knowing that it was built for kids in mind, you will be very happy with the experience. I watched this film with my four year old son and ten year old son. I realized early on that the adult characters were not portrayed as dim and the this held my attention more than anything. But let's get to the plot...
Ben Stiller (Larry) plays a divorced father with visitation of his ten year old son. He is coming to terms with not being a business mogul or standout success in life and takes a job as security guard simply because he must have a job as to not let his son down. So you have a guy that is wanted to be great accepting a job that is not so great. What happens is he finds that as another character in the movie says, "Some are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them". And there is lies the plot without giving away the story.
I don't want to spoil the fun, and you must know that from the trailers or even the box cover, that in the museum where Larry works every exhibit comes to life at night. The cause of this effect I'll leave you to learn from watching the story for yourself. But if you are prone to allowing your self to suspend disbelief during movie experiences, this one is easy to accept.
Ben deals with a lot of chaos in a logical and sensible manner. The special effects are perfect as they pretty much go un-noticed. I mean for instance a prehistoric T-Rex (only the bones) meanders around and never once did I think, "oh I see how they did that." Instead I accepted his existence on screen naturally. Nothing looked phony, contrived or over the top. The effects served the story only, not the other way around.
Most of all if you have kids, this is a great night in. For kids, they will want to add this to their video collection. While this movie is no Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it is absolutely a great film with very few flaws if any. The story has a good beginning middle and end. Even the end credits answers one final question about a few characters you thought wouldn't be explained. It was a nice final touch although for adults it was a bit of a stretch.
While there were a few laugh out loud moments, (my youngest son and I laughed hard at, "dum dum, you got my gum gum?") the movie was full of smiles and good feeling. There was no history lesson in this movie, only history and historical characters. The story is a fantasy, not an educational film, don't expect to learn what year Lewis and Clark set out on their expedition of the west.
One flaw I felt was casting Owen Wilson as the cowboy, while he's played cowboy's so well, I had trouble with of all things the typecasting of him in it. But eventually I accepted him in this role and years from now, it will most likely be a tribute that he had the part of the cowboy. Robin Williams played Teddy Roosevelt without going over the top. Refreshing. Carla Gugino maintained being sexy hot while wearing clothes that made her wholesome for a family film. Go figure. I must say I liked the fact the film producers did not go for a lot of wasteful sub-plots.
All in all, a well rounded movie. You could even watch this movie with a date. Night at the Museum was made with care. It’s lack of precocious behavior made this movie work nicely. I don’t give it a 10 because it is not Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but it is still great. And perhaps time will make it a 10 later.
