Night at the museum - 2006

I liked it. I mean, I didn’t often laugh out loud, but sometimes I did, and I think it was all in all very enjoyable, a nice comedy, a family film. I only wish they had used a bit more time on the history instead on Ben Stiller making faces at the monkey. I mean, saying it like that makes me smile now, but honestly it was too much. Seeing Larry and the monkey slap each other faces once could make you smile, but when it goes on forever it stops being funny and because just annoying… I would have liked Larry talking a little bit of history instead, just a little more.

Anyway, all in all it was nice.

STORY: Larry (Ben Stiller) starts up as a bit of a loser. He’s got no job, can’t keep one apparently, and has a failed marriage behind it. I was very glad that there was no romantic story at the heart of the film. His ex-wife now has a new boyfriend, Don (Paul Rudd) who has a steady job, and this leads Larry’s son Nick to be more proud of him that he is of his dad; Nick didn’t even tell him that there was a career parent day at his school. This is what hurts Larry, he doesn’t want to lose his son, so he goes out to find a job that will allow him to keep his home and stay around. 

The only thing he can find in one day is a job at the Museum of Natural History. He goes there and meets old night guards Cecil and Gus (Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney, who I know are big names but I haven’t seen anything with them, I will have to make up for that) and Reginald (Bill Cobbs, and I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere; I’m not good with faces but I’m sure about this, in something intense..). They tell him they’re retiring and he’ll be the new night guard. They give him a book of rules but of course he doesn’t read them :-/ They tell him to make sure that nothing comes in …or out at night.

First night on the job, he’s very surprised to see that the big T-Rex skeleton is running around, and so are all the other ‘statues’. They all come to life at night. Larry can only read the first two instructions (throw the bone at the retriever-T-Rex to keep him happy, and lock the lions) before Dexter the monkey steals his keys and his ‘book’. Luckily for him Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) helps him out. The next morning Larry wants to quit, but right outside the door he meets Nick with Don, and Nick seems happy that he has that job, he says it’s “awesome that you work here” so he goes back inside. He learns that an Egyptian tablet is what makes it possible, it’s its power that brings everything to life. The director Dr McPhee (Ricky Gervais) is not happy to find the little tin-soldier Ottavio (Steve Coogan) in chains in the cowboys zone. Larry catches up on his history to find a way to deal with them all, so next time he thinks he’s more prepared, but he isn’t :-p Dexter is still a problem, the cowboys and the Roman army that he let out are having now a big fight altogether, and a Neanderthal man goes out the window that Dexter opened. Larry wants to quit again, then Colombo (Pierfrancesco Favino :D ) makes him notice that there’s a window open; Larry is too late though and the Neanderthal goes into dust when dawn breaks. McPhee now fires him, and Nick sees that because he came in with two friends to show them his dad’s workplace. Larry manages to get one more chance to do right, and takes Nick with him at the museum, to prove to him that he still has the job and that he’s doing something amazing. 

That night together, Larry sees that the three old nightguards are trying to rob the museum, planning to blame him for everything. Dexter opens the door and everything’s go out. Larry hopes Teddy will help him but “I’m made of wax Larry, what are you made of?” which was the best line of the movie. Larry frees the Pharaoh (with a difficult name I don’t remember) who now feels in debt and wants to help him. He acts as a translator between Larry and Attila the Hun. Larry tells everybody in the museum that they’re all in danger because the tablet has been stolen, and convinces them all to work together to save the museum, so: Confederate and Secessionist soldiers together stop Gus, while Colombo and the Neanderthal guys stop Reginald. Cecil gets away in a coach, after Jed (Owen Wilson) and Ottavio together deflated one of his van’s wheel. To track him, Larry frees the Indian girl (so beautiful), but then she stays behind to help poor Teddy who got cut in half when he saved her from the coach… Larry goes after Cecil on Teddy’s horse, with a little help from the two little guys and the T-Rex, and stops him. Larry tells Attila to bring Cecil back and keep an eye on him, and to go easy on him because Attila seems to be a limbs-ripping enthusiast; Larry then tells the Pharaoh to use his tablet to order everyone to go back to the museum before sunrise. They all go back in time, and Rebecca (the museum guide who thought he was making fun of her passion for history when he told her everything) now comes in and can meet her heroine, the Indian girl :-)

Next morning Larry gets fired, of course, after such a disaster. Not only the museum conditions, but also all the news on tv: Neanderthal men on the roof, mammoth footprints in the snow… McPhee is about to walk him out when they see that the museum is full of people! After last night’s publicity, a lot of people came to get a look, and I love that scene, when McPhee stops at that sight, looks at all those people, and then hands Larry the keys back, with just a nod, rehiring him. Now Nick is all proud :-)

Can I say my fav here were Colombo (small role, but he did the Genoa accent :heart: ), Debbie (Anne Meara, also a small role, but I liked her a lot), Ottavio and McPhee, the funniest two of the whole movie :-) I liked those two :-) 

ITA una notte al museo