I went to see "Night at the Museum" not hoping for a masterpiece, but expecting to be entertained. Alas, I had my hopes set too high.
One would think that in a film with Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Mickey Rooney, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson would be filled to the brim with great comedic performances. But there is only one actor with any significant screen time who is allowed to let loose with his performance, and that is Ben Stiller: an unfunny guy whose reputation is built on the backs of funny co-stars such as Cameron Diaz, Andy Dick, Janeane Garafalo, and his father Jerry Stiller.
The premise of the film--taken from a children's book by Milan Trenc--is that Ben Stiller is a divorced dad who takes a job as the new night watchman at the New York Museum of Natural History in order to prove to his son that he isn't an unemployable loser. Due to an ancient Egyptian talisman on display at the museum, all the exhibits come to life after closing time, and he must make sure they don't make a mess or leave the museum before dawn. Unfortunately for him, he's not very good at either of these duties. Unfortunately for me as a viewer, I was subjected to nearly two hours of his awful mugging and wooden one-liners.
In the 1990's, Robin Williams specialized in these types of films (e.g. "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Jumanji") and managed to elicit guffaws from the dry, preachy material. But now that he's too old to play the father of a kid who's not even in middle school yet, he is relegated to being Stiller's fatherly adviser as Teddy Roosevelt, which he plays without his trademark comic genius.
Instead we have Ben Stiller in the lead. And although he is not listed as producer, director or screenwriter, one gets the sense that Stiller was the guy in charge during the making of the movie. He is in almost every scene, and most of the shots in this film are close-ups of his face. And the casting of Anne Meara--Stiller's mother--as an employment counselor would probably not have taken place if Stiller were merely the lead actor on this project.
I realize the preceding paragraphs make the movie sound worse than it really is. There are good things about it. I will give the film-makers credit that this film--although appropriate for kids--is not strictly a children's movie. The camera-work is uniformly great. The CGI special effects--while not LOTR-quality--are better than those of many other effects-based films (i.e. "The Chronicles of Narnia", the second "Star Wars" trilogy). And I did chuckle at Owen Wilson as Jed the miniature cowboy. Unfortunately, the visual goodies take a back seat to Stiller's performance and a plot with more holes than Swiss cheese. And Wilson's role was much too small (no pun intended).
In recent years, we have seen lots of films such as "Toy Story", "The Rookie", and "Elf" that prove that you can make a film for kids without dumbing things down. "Night at the Museum" is not one of those films. Instead it is a dull, silly ego trip for an untalented actor who can only dream about being as funny as the people he works with. 6 out of 10.
One would think that in a film with Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Mickey Rooney, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson would be filled to the brim with great comedic performances. But there is only one actor with any significant screen time who is allowed to let loose with his performance, and that is Ben Stiller: an unfunny guy whose reputation is built on the backs of funny co-stars such as Cameron Diaz, Andy Dick, Janeane Garafalo, and his father Jerry Stiller.
The premise of the film--taken from a children's book by Milan Trenc--is that Ben Stiller is a divorced dad who takes a job as the new night watchman at the New York Museum of Natural History in order to prove to his son that he isn't an unemployable loser. Due to an ancient Egyptian talisman on display at the museum, all the exhibits come to life after closing time, and he must make sure they don't make a mess or leave the museum before dawn. Unfortunately for him, he's not very good at either of these duties. Unfortunately for me as a viewer, I was subjected to nearly two hours of his awful mugging and wooden one-liners.
In the 1990's, Robin Williams specialized in these types of films (e.g. "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Jumanji") and managed to elicit guffaws from the dry, preachy material. But now that he's too old to play the father of a kid who's not even in middle school yet, he is relegated to being Stiller's fatherly adviser as Teddy Roosevelt, which he plays without his trademark comic genius.
Instead we have Ben Stiller in the lead. And although he is not listed as producer, director or screenwriter, one gets the sense that Stiller was the guy in charge during the making of the movie. He is in almost every scene, and most of the shots in this film are close-ups of his face. And the casting of Anne Meara--Stiller's mother--as an employment counselor would probably not have taken place if Stiller were merely the lead actor on this project.
I realize the preceding paragraphs make the movie sound worse than it really is. There are good things about it. I will give the film-makers credit that this film--although appropriate for kids--is not strictly a children's movie. The camera-work is uniformly great. The CGI special effects--while not LOTR-quality--are better than those of many other effects-based films (i.e. "The Chronicles of Narnia", the second "Star Wars" trilogy). And I did chuckle at Owen Wilson as Jed the miniature cowboy. Unfortunately, the visual goodies take a back seat to Stiller's performance and a plot with more holes than Swiss cheese. And Wilson's role was much too small (no pun intended).
In recent years, we have seen lots of films such as "Toy Story", "The Rookie", and "Elf" that prove that you can make a film for kids without dumbing things down. "Night at the Museum" is not one of those films. Instead it is a dull, silly ego trip for an untalented actor who can only dream about being as funny as the people he works with. 6 out of 10.