Night at the Museum (2006)

Director: Shawn Levy

Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Ricky Gervais

A newly recruited night security guard at the Museum of Natural History discovers that an ancient curse causes the animals and exhibits on display to come to life and wreak havoc.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) needs a better job to ensure his 10-year old son from his failed marriage can still visit him. He takes the first available job: that of night security guard at a Museum.

From the moment Larry goes for the interview, we notice something eerie going on. As it turns out, this is no ordinary museum. At night, everything in the museum comes to life – and has been ever since the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Ahkmenrah arrived at the museum back in 1952.

Being a slapstick movie I’ve never been interested in watching it. And so, one night while browsing a streaming site, I decided – against my better judgement, I might add – to watch ‘Night at the Museum’. My instincts were right: this was just slapstick deluxe from beginning to end! What an absolute load of crap. If this was aimed at a very young demographic, I’d understand how they could find it funny (oh, and Americans). But this was just pure stupidity. I tried. I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t… I kept asking myself “Why, just why?”

The film did improve a bit during the final act when Larry and all the characters who came to life, tried to stop thieves who stole the Golden Tablet. In order to come alive at night, they desperately need this artifact. This final act was rather fun. Cheesy, but nevertheless still fun.

The visuals were rather good, and I must confess to liking Rexy – the T-Rex skeleton who thought he was a dog. Ben Stiller does what he does best; being silly – but he’s good at it. (Would that be considered a compliment or an insult, I wonder…?). The score was also beautiful.

‘Night at the Museum’ was an enormous success, earning nearly $575 million on a $110 million budget. It received 10 award nominations. ‘Night at the Museum’ was followed by two sequels…so far…

Would I watch it again? No.