Watching a formulaic family movie like this should annoy me, but then I remember that, like National Treasure: Book of Secrets, it needs to be formulaic. It’s the cinematic equivalent of comfort food: the story structure is familiar and there are variations on the characters, conflicts, gags, and devices, but it works. We’re not expecting Best Picture material, so it’s okay.
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) takes a job as a night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is a last-ditch effort to have a stable income and, hopefully, salvage his relationship with his son, who lives with Larry’s ex-wife (Kim Raver) and soon-to-be stepfather (Paul Rudd). His first night on the job, after getting some odd advice from the retiring night guards (Bill Cobbs, Dick Van Dyke, and Mickey Rooney), Larry learns that the work is a lot harder than he anticipated: the exhibits come to life thanks to a mystical Egyptian tablet. Larry is fired by the museum’s director (Ricky Gervais) the next morning, but begs for his job back and gets it, determined to be a success for his son.
Stiller does passable work as Larry, but the highlights are Owen Wilson as cowboy Jedediah and Steve Coogan as Octavius (both in miniature). Robin Williams is also pretty good as Teddy Roosevelt; it gives him the opportunity to act without reminding us of all his recent films.
3/5