Movie Reviews
If “Night at the Museum” has anything going for it, it’s that the special effects are great. Jim Rygiel’s effects department continues to raise the bar. He achieves the type of effects that we only realize are fake because we’re aware of what’s real and what’s not. But for a child, here’s a film for the imagination.
That said, “Night at the Museum” is also somewhat of a disappointment. It’s not that I had high expectations, but the advertisements for it hinted something original about it. Quite a bit of what appears on the screen is pretty original, but the core of the story is something we see again and again and again.
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced dad who shares custody of his only son with his ex-wife, who is now married to a very successful stickler. Larry can’t seem to keep a job and because of his perpetual financial misfortune, he is forced to move constantly, dragging his kid with him from place to place.
When the movie begins, he’s lost another job and on the verge of eviction. He mentions to his wife that he’s going to have to move again, upon which she explains that another move for their son would be a bad idea. She suggests that she has full custody of the child until Larry can get settled down permanently. Until then, he needs to find a steady job.
So Larry applies for a guard job at a museum in the city. Three old men (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs) run the security there and are fixing to retire. It’s only after Larry is accepted that he’s informed the job is the night guard position. After agreeing reluctantly, he begins his job that night. Contrary to any warning given by those three geezers, Larry witnesses the museum come to life by night.
Here’s where the effects come in, and they’re about the only thing that do their job to the fullest. Director Shawn Levy is successful in integrating his actors with the effects, but he fails to take advantage of such an imaginative story.
The script is based on the book by Milan Trenc and adapted for the screen by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. Both are writers for the television series “Reno: 911,” a fact that I had trouble believing because “Night at the Museum” is full of a lot of stupid, childish jokes. But when I recalled content of “Reno: 911,” I realized that the show is basically a lot of stupid, childish jokes too, except that the jokes usually have sexual connotations to them. Here’s a good example of explorative writers making an awkward career shift.
I can’t help but hope that the future holds better children’s movies. There was a film that came out a couple years ago called “Millions.” It was directed (unexpectedly) by the talented Danny Boyle, who brought the appropriate blend of realism and whimsy, charm and peril, mystery and magic to the film. It was a movie that challenged its youthful demographic to watch intently and to indulge in its visual fervor and solid storyline.
I’d be interested to see what Danny Boyle could do with something like “Night at the Museum.” It’s a shame the movie’s balance was so one-sided. **