Night at the Museum

Based on a children's book by Milan Trenc, filmmaker Shawn Levy's comic extravaganza is set at the Museum of Natural History in New York, where the exhibits—a plethora of beasties, skeletal remains, and historical figures—come alive after the doors are closed—which has a predictably scary-comic impact on the new night security guard, a down-on-his-luck divorced dad named Larry Daley (Ben Stiller). Of course, that doesn't stop Larry from bringing his cherubic son to join him at work for a bit of family bonding, and that's the night all heck breaks loose with the arrival of thieves. This thin premise allows for an absolute orgy of visual effects, including an animated T-Rex skeleton, a disinterred mummy, and swarms of tiny warriors (both Roman and Western), as well as come-to-life statues of Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Columbus, Sacagawea, and a comically rampaging Attila heading up a horde of Huns. Despite the movie's strenuous effort to create a sense of wonder, however, visual effects without emotional affect just can't carry a film, and so like Jumanji before it, Night at the Museum is big and loud, but hardly magical, even with the presence of beloved actors Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. Still, given its huge box office success, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras on the two-disc “special edition” include two audio commentaries (one by director Shawn Levy; the other by writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon), a Fox Movie Channel “Life After Film School” interview with Levy (25 min.), Comedy Central's Reel Comedy episode (21 min.), eight deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Levy (17 min.), a 12-minute “making-of” featurette, “The Director's Vision Comes Alive” storyboard comparison with intro by Levy (11 min.), the 10-minute Fox Movie Channel segment “Making a Scene,” an eight-minute “Building a Museum” featurette, “Bringing the Museum to Life” (6 min.), a six-minute blooper reel, the five-minute “Monkey Business” featurette on the real-life monkeys, “Directing 101” (4 min.), DVD-ROM features (including a “Reunite with Rexy” game), and trailers. Bottom line: an impressive extras package for a box office hit but critical miss.] (F. Swietek)