Movie Review: Night at the Museum

I have a huge problem when movies seem good and then as it progresses there are areas in which the movie does not cover. If a flick is going to bring up an issue then that issue better be solved before the credits start to roll.

This is my main problem with Night At The Museum starring Ben Stiller.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Well Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a less than average guy. His son Nicky (Jake Cherry) looks at him like he is a fool, (another major problem I have, but I will discuss this later on), his ex wife has a higher than thou attitude, and his ex’s new husband is a breadwinner, and Nicky adores him. Leaving Larry pretty much always feeling like a loser. He fails in every business he tries, and he is about to lose his home again.

Larry in all efforts to save his relationship with his son, and to be able to pay the rent takes a job at the Museum Of Natural History in New York. (Which is the real museum on the outside, but I have no idea where they filmed inside because that clearly is not the same museum I myself know)

Anyways, he is not really trained at all, but Cecil (Dick Van Dyke) gives him a ‘things to do list.’ Cecil and his other 2 buddies Reginald (Bill Cobbs) and Gus (Mickey Rooney) are about to be let go due to their old age, so Larry being young is the perfect new candidate.

So it’s night 1. Already things go amok, the museum comes to life. However everything happens so quickly it sort of throws you off. Statues come to life, wax figures come to life, dinosaur bones are now animated and very much alive, yet it acts more like a dog than predator.

Larry tries to restore the chaos and save his own life while trying to read this tattered list of things to do. However Dexter the capuchin (a once stuffed monkey) gets a hold of it tears it to shreds, and steals his keys.
President Roosevelt (Robin Williams) steps in and helps Larry save his own tail a few times on this night.
Basically, the museums inhabitants almost kill Larry on his first day on the job. A nice surprise in the movie were some of the well known actors such as Owen Wilson who plays the role of a miniature cowboy figurine, and Steve Coogan who plays as the miniature figurine of Octavius. The two did a great job performing together.

MOVING ON…

Night 2 Larry thinks he has got the hang of it. Again things go crazy and the museum looks like a bomb went off nearly landing him into unemployment again.

Night 3 for some strange reason, even after getting killed nightly he decides it is safe to bring his son along. (Why any reasonable person would put his child in danger is beyond me, but he does so anyway) He wants to show his son the things that come to life at night.
But uh-oh, someone has stolen the secret tablet that brings the museum to life. Gee, wonder who that could be?

Anyways Larry has a battle to fight, he has to stop these bad guys and get the tablet back. He brings order to the museums inhabitants, and they all help Larry in his quest to getting the tablet back from the bad guys before sunrise. (You see once the sun comes up the museum goes back to sleep, however they MUST be inside in order to come back the next day, if they are outside when the sun comes up they are gone for good.)

That is pretty much the movie without spoiling the ending.

OKAY:

Now I’m not going to tear this movie up and say it was horrible (because it’s not, there are many really funny scenes), but like I said earlier there were so many issues that come up in the movie that go unanswered.
And there are some problems I have with just how messed up Larry’s ex wife is in particular.

For one, they are divorced, so I cannot understand why she constantly butts into Larry’s life. Most of what she mentions has nothing to do with Larry and Nicky’s relationship, but it seems more like she is picking on him. (“You should get a job”, “Oh you’re about to lose your house again”, “Maybe you should grow up a little bit, take responsibility”)

No wonder Nicky thinks he is a loser. I always thought talking bad about your ex to your child was a major no-no. I guess they ignored that little fact in this film; it was actually a little disturbing.

Secondly, Larry’s son must be no older than 8 or 9. However he brings up some pretty adult issues in which you KNOW his mother had fed to him. In one scene Nicky tells Larry that maybe he should get a job. (Something a normal 9 year old wouldn’t care about) So it is clear that Larry’s ex was speaking right through Nicky and Nicky was simply repeating what he heard. It was a little issue that bugged the hell out of me throughout the movie.

Another major issue in the movie was the ending. Now don’t get me wrong, it was pretty good, but … the bad guys? Yeah, there is a little tad bit of information with them that goes missing. Yup, ‘poof’, up in smoke. When you watch it you will see exactly what I am talking about.
The absence of what happened with this was strange. This was the main key in Larry not getting into trouble the next day, however it went ‘unsolved’ and ‘unmentioned’.

Another problem I had with this movie was when the exhibits were outside, I was shocked that the ONLY footage that the media got hold of was some cavemen on a roof and a t-rex footprint in the snow. I mean the entire museum of natural history was outside, yet no one caught any better footage than that?

OVERALL:

The movie in general was cute, but the issues that went unsolved were a huge set back for this one. However the acting was really good, and none of the characters ever seemed fake or untrue, they played the roles as if they were the exhibits of historical figures to a tee.
I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. Maybe the unanswered questions will show up in a sequel?