Dim Delivery of "Night at the Museum"
The idea was bright, but the delivery dim in the holiday family film “Night at the Museum.”
Once the sun goes down Egyptian ruler Amun Rah’s magic tablet causes all the exhibits in the natural history museum come to life — from the African animals to the miniaturized Roman soldiers — all traipse through the museum causing mayhem and mischief to the detriment of night guard NAME.
The film’s premise promises delightful merriment and comedy, but only halfheartedly delivers. The special effects are spectacular and are the film’s real charm, but Ben Stiller’s stumbling attempts at improvisational humor nearly saps the film of delight. Though the script was cliché and simplistic at times, Stiller would have served the movie better by sticking to what was written.
Worse yet, Stiller’s name appeared ahead of even the title of the film. It does not get more pretentious than that. With such slapstick comedy hits as “Meet the Parents,” its sequel “Meet the Fockers” (of which the real stars were Academy Award winners actors Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand) and “Zoolander” to his credit, Stiller is up and coming, but hardly there yet.
Furthermore, despite being the lead actor of “Night at the Museum” it was not even appropriate to have his name appear before acting legend and Oscar winner Dick VanDyke, or Mickey Rooney for that matter. I know the producers are selling “Night at the Museum” to a younger generation, but their parents are the one’s buying the tickets.
Including seasoned actors VanDyke, Rooney and NAME as the villainous retirees was a nice touch and it did not serve the film well to belittle their presence.
The idea behind “Night at the Museum” was brilliant and handled by a more artful hand could have achieved such family film success as “Jumanji.” However, the script was inappropriately dummied down for a younger audience. This was a children’s movie, but children do not like to be talked down to and there is often very little reason to do so. This was a great idea that could have been done better with a slightly more sophisticated script. Better dialogue and a more stylish presentation of the film’s moral would have elevated the movie to the status of excellent.
However, despite Stiller’s clumsy delivery and an overly simplistic ending, the special effects saved “Night at the Museum.” This film is worth a viewing on the big screen if for nothing else than to see a tyrannosaurus rex chase after its own rib bone, tail wagging excitedly in the air.
Robin Williams also gave a delightful presentation as Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, the film’s producers should have hired Williams to play the night guardsmen and left Stiller out of the picture all together.
The miniaturized war between Owen Wilson as Jedediah Smith and NAME as the Roman general NAME were also hilarious and worthy of a big screen viewing.
Despite “Night at the Museum’s” flaws, children will love it and adults will at least get pleasure out of seeing some of Hollywood’s legendary greats on the big screen — even if only briefly — and all will love the romping fun of the special effects.