A small army of agreeable little truths makes “Night at the Museum” a worthy ticket.
Ben Stiller, for one, is slightly less manically dweeby than his recent overemployed personae. The divorced parents aren’t cruel to each other, for another thing. There is respect for learning and enthusiasm, without bottled sermons.
And there is gentle humor, if there can be such a thing in a movie where mastodons and T-rex skeletons stomp through Central Park. There are small jokes and wry comments without the frenetic, six-snarks-a-minute pacing of the average children’s movie.
A story actually develops over time, and makes sense within its own created fantasy, without a single penguin, woodland creature or barnyard
smartypants breaking into song.
Though far less ambitious than “Jurassic Park,” “Night at the Museum” is also far less terrifying than “Jumanji.” It is happy where it is, and the audience I saw it with seemed to appreciate that.
Stiller plays Larry, in the now-familiar kid-movie role of a divorced dad on the verge of losing his son. Larry is an inventor and dreamer, stuck in the decidedly non-dreamy New York City rental market – if he doesn’t get a job today, he’ll be evicted, and custody visits will likely stop. (If you want to rent the more serious, Oscar-worthy version of this problem, see “Kramer vs. Kramer,” circa 1979.)
Larry signs on as night guard at New York’s fabled Natural History Museum, and the film takes advantage of the institution’s beloved array of bones, dioramas and marble hallways. (Exteriors were shot in New York, while the interiors were re-created at a Vancouver sound stage.)
A trio of crusty, just-fired security guards led by Dick Van Dyke shows Larry the ropes: Because of a curse imported to the museum with a mummy in 1952, the exhibits come alive every night, down to the miniature cowboys (Owen Wilson of the not-so-miniature nose) who oversee construction of the Transcontinental Railway.
Other than an incontinent monkey, the potty humor is kept to a minimum. Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt warns Larry, “The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future,” and Larry studies up on “The Idiot’s Guide to Attila the Hun.”
“Night at the Museum” also quietly features a promising relationship between Stiller and a pretty museum docent, Rebecca (Carla Gugino), who is stuck on year four of her 900-page thesis on Sacagawea. I need to bring her to life to finish the book, Rebecca muses, and Larry sees his chance to make a promising introduction.
A miniature centurion and a maximum Attila roam the hallways for some history revised for humor. Stiller quiets yet another midnight battle in the Civil War diorama with a short speech: North wins, slavery bad. You guys in the South got the Allman Brothers and NASCAR. Get over it.
If a talking Easter Island head isn’t enough, more complications are in store. Those cantankerous old security guards may be up to something more than booking retirement condos in Boca. Larry may have to come up with a good argument as to why the cowboys can’t cite manifest destiny to overrun the Romans in the display next door.
And when the going gets rough, Larry can’t cut and run from this delicate job of nighttime diplomacy. Teddy Roosevelt taunts him, “I’m made of wax, Larry. What are you made of?”
Game on, with Jumanji, Risk, Clue and Life all crammed into one building.
“Night at the Museum” is no classic, but if you’ve stood by the “Happy Feet” display in the mall for more than two minutes, you may agree that a little restraint this holiday season goes a long way. The kids may not beg you to read them the journals of Lewis and Clark afterward, but they may show renewed interest in their Neanderthal action figures.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at mbooth@denverpost.com.
“Night at the Museum” | *** RATING
PG for mild action violence|1 hour, 45 minutes|ACTION COMEDY|Directed by Shawn Levy, written by Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, based on the book by Milan Trenc; starring Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke and Jake Cherry|Opens today at area theaters.
Serious dough
Ben Stiller is a pretty silly guy, but when it comes to box office grosses, he does serious business. Here are his top five movies
(first figure is total domestic gross, second is opening weekend, in millions):
Meet the Fockers
$279.3 ($46.1, 2004)
Madagascar (voice)
$193.6 ($47.2, 2005)
There’s Something About Mary
$176.5 ($13.7, 1998)
Meet the Parents
$166.2 ($28.6, 2000)
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story $114.3 ($30.1, 2004)
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