Night at the Museum... My Take on the Movie

Tonight my wife, Marilyn, and I took in Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller as Larry Daley, as an everyman type who by necessity must take a job as the night security job at the New York Musem of Natural Science. We chose to view the IMAX version of the film and we found the film to be great fun. The film gave a whole new twist on the notion that history comes alive at the museum.

We had just returned from Walt Disney World in Orlando, about two weeks ago. We still had a very fresh image in our mind of what magic can be created when the creative juices of imagination are allowed to blossom. And this film possessed much of the magic we experienced at Disney.

What Larry Daley discovers is that at night everything actually comes alive at night at the museum. Robin Williams plays the nightly reincarnated Teddy Roosevelt, who cajoles and bullies and in the process inspires Larry to find out what kind of stuff he is made of. Larry must salvage his relationship with his son. He must end the feud between the Roman army in one diorama and the westward headed Americans building the railroad that linked the two coast of the United States in another diorama. He must placate a playful T-Rex who wants to play fetch with a bone. And at the same time he has to fend off Ghenghis Khan, African lions, a Mastodon and a host of other characters, real and animated. And in the end, he must find the strength to become the person he was meant to become.... and, of course, find love.

The movie has a stellar cast with Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs as the three Security Guards who are being fired and being replaced by Larry. They are the bad guys who try to steal the very thing that magically brings the museum to life at night. Jake Cherry plays a likable Nick Daley, Larry's son.

Larry must save the day, save the museum and regain his son's esteem. The movie is non-stop fun, with action, a touch of history, a great family film, a lot of engaging action and a dash of romance to make things really interesting. In the IMAX format, the show takes on an added dimension of sometimes seeming almost to possess the qualities of 3-dimension.

Go to see this show because you want to have a pleasant and entertaining evening out. Go see this show because this movie has gathered a really talented cast, who create memorable characters.Go see this movie because you won't have to fear what your kids might see in the movie. There are no drugs involved. There is no gratuitous sex or violence. What guns there are in the show don't work, so no one gets shot or killed. Just go see this movie if you enjoy a story that has a positive slant in a time when most of the news we hear is bad news. It is not a masterpiece, but it is a really good and decent piece of cinematography. This movie will be worth every penny you spend to see it.

This was definitely a two-thumbs up movie and by my estimation a movie truly worth seeing.