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Night at the Museum is a fairly standard ‘fun for the whole family during the holiday season’ film that attempts to be everything to everyone, and only succeeds because it’s failings are as forgettable as ultimately the film itself is.  The movie begins as a completely unaffecting family drama, as Larry (played by Ben Stiller, annoying nervous energy thankfully turned down a notch) strives to maintain the respect of his 10 year old son Nick (Jake Cherry) who lives with Larry’s ex wife. 

Larry is in a slump and in desperate need of a steady job or else he’ll have to move out of Manhattan and into Queens, which really doesn’t leave me feeling all that sympathetic towards his ‘plight’.  The family drama is so thinly drawn that it could be removed from the story altogether.  Larry manages to find a job as a night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History, and is warned by the outgoing guards (Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs) not to let anything into OR out of the museum at night.  Only slightly perplexed, Larry fails to read the hand written instruction manual they give him, and is quite surprised to find that at midnight all the ‘inhabitants’ of the museum come to life.

This is where the SFX take over and the film actually produces some laughs.  The Tyrannosaurus Rex likes to play fetch, the wild animals from the African exhibit roam the halls, Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) is there to motivate, and the tiny inhabitants of the ancient Rome and American wild west dioramas prepare for an all out war.  Larry must learn how to either corral or appease the living exhibits in order to keep his job from the ever watchful but completely inarticulate museum manager (Ricky Gervais in an all too brief role).  There are quite a few little moments of hilarity, such as Mickey Rooney taking pot shots at Stiller, a minor gay subtext between Roman general Octavius (Steve Coogan) and cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson), not to mention the repeated face-slapping antics of a capuchin monkey named Dexter. 

Eventually we discover the reason why the museum comes to life, and then the plot, such that it is, turns towards Larry trying to prevent a nefarious scheme to rob the museum.  Can Larry rise to the occasion and save the day?  We don’t really care, knowing all along that he will, but that doesn’t matter too much.  This film is a cute and shiny distraction, with some laughs thrown in for good measure.