Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum
First promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Shawn Levy
Produced by	Shawn Levy Chris Columbus Michael Barnathan
Written by	Thomas Lennon Robert Ben Garant Milan Trenc (Book)
Starring	Ben Stiller Carla Gugino Dick Van Dyke Mickey Rooney Bill Cobbs Robin Williams Jake Cherry Ricky Gervais Owen Wilson Steve Coogan Patrick Gallagher Rami Malek Kim Raver
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Editing by	Don Zimmerman
Studio	1492 Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 22, 2006 (2006-12-22)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$110 million
Gross revenue	$574,480,841[1]
Followed by	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Night at the Museum is a 2006 American adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book with the same name by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to life at night.

Released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century Fox, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and directed by Shawn Levy. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Jake Cherry, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Paul Rudd, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Owen Wilson, and Steve Coogan. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.

A sequel titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was released on May 22, 2009.

Plot

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of his career consisting of failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful future stepfather, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. Larry goes to a job agency and is sent to the American Museum of Natural History, where he is hired as a night guard. The three elder (soon to be retired) night guards, Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), Gus (Mickey Rooney), and Reginald (Bill Cobbs), give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out", which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. Once night comes, Larry discovers that the museum exhibits come to life, including a living Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, a mischievous capuchin monkey named Dexter, miniatures led by cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Roman General Octavius (Steve Coogan), an Easter Island head obsessed with "gum-gum" and a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams).

Roosevelt explains to Larry that an Egyptian artifact — the Tablet of Akmenrah — was brought to the museum in 1952, and on that night, everything in the museum came to life, and each night since. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum during sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt helps Larry by restoring order (insisting it is the only time he will help), and while unnerved, Larry decides to remain as a guard. On Cecil's advice, Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better for their animation. He introduces himself to the museum tour guide, Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a biography on the life and times of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck). Larry learns much of the history of the various exhibits from Rebecca. The next night, Larry uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits, but again fails when four Neanderthals set fire to a display, and one is turned to dust when he leaves the museum at the dawn. Larry barely manages to keep his job after the museum's director, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), discovers the mess. Larry tries to tell Rebecca about what happens to the exhibits at night, even offering to let her meet Sacagawea to help with Rebecca's dissertation, but she does not believe him and leaves in tears, convinced that Larry was making fun of her.

Larry brings Nick to the Museum, but fails to impress him when nothing comes to life. They find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, as well as multiple other priceless objects. They discover that to stop the creatures from coming to life, they turned the center piece (the tablet consists of nine gold squares) sideways. Larry tells Nick, who is holding the tablet, to reposition the square. Wanting to believe his dad for once in his life, he turns it. The tablet then glows, and a tremendous trumpeting sound is heard, coming from the T-Rex skeleton in the museum's lobby. Cecil then reveals that, like the museum exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality and energy from the tablet. Unwilling to forsake it, the three intend to steal the tablet, along with various other museum artifacts to fund their retirement, and frame Larry for the theft. Cecil then locks the two in the Egyptian room and flees with the tablet. Larry releases the mummy of Pharaoh Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) from his sarcophagus: surprisingly Akmenrah speaks English, having spent many years as an exhibit in the Egyptology Department at Cambridge University. Akmenrah then tells his jackal-headed "guards" to let them out. The three find the other exhibits fighting, and Larry, after the Easter Island head manages to get their attention, convinces them to work together to reclaim the tablet or else lose their ability to be animated.

Though the exhibits manage to capture Gus and Reginald without difficulty, Cecil, wanting to be immortal and live forever, escapes with the tablet by stagecoach, whereupon Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jed, Octavius, and Attila the Hun pursue him through Central Park, eventually capturing him thanks to Larry's quick thinking of halting the horses with a secret word, "Dakota". The exhibits rush to return to the museum before sunrise, and Rebecca sees them crossing the road in front of her and realizes that Larry was telling the truth. Entering the museum, Larry introduces her to Sacagawea. The next day, Dr. McPhee fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum, but readmits Larry when the reports issued by the news media (i.e., cave paintings in a subway station, dinosaur footprints in Central Park and cavemen waving torches) end up increasing the museum's popularity. Some time later, Larry appears in Nick's classroom during Career Day. Later that night, Larry returns with Nick and all the exhibits celebrate. Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, meanwhile, are allowed to remian at the museum but, as punishment, are forced to mop up the foam that the cavemen eat. At one point Cecil tries to get out of doing work by sleeping, but Gus forces him to clean up while Gus doesn't do any work. Larry does a final check of the museum and flips his flashlight into his holster, turning it off using his "Snapper" device (mentioned earlier in the film.)

During the film's closing credits, the three new janitors are shown briefly, including Dick Van Dyke dancing with his broom, just as limber as he was in the 60s.

Production

Primary filming was set to take place in Montreal^{[citation needed]}, but Ben Stiller was reportedly unhappy about working there^{[citation needed]}, and is fond of Vancouver, hence prompting a move to British Columbia. Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project^{[citation needed]}. He eventually left due to creative differences^{[citation needed]}.

Larry's inability to remember Christopher Columbus's (Pierfrancesco Favino) name may be a wink and a nod to producer Chris Columbus^{[original research?]}. This idea is supported by Shawn Levy's DVD commentary, in which he mentions that Columbus advised him to concentrate on storyboarding any visual effects scenes prior to shooting, just like he had done on his two Harry Potter films.

The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Burnaby, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.^[2] Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the troublemaking monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Stiller in the film. Director Shawn Levy credited Ben Stiller for the ensemble cast: "When actors hear that Ben Stiller is in a movie they want to work with him. It['s] a high-water mark and it absolutely draws actors in and I'm convinced that's a big part of why we got this cast."^[3]

Cast

• Ben Stiller - Larry Daley, a sporadically unemployed man and the protagonist of the film. He often has trouble keeping a job, but eventually gets a job as a night guard at the Museum of Natural History. He ultimately helps to save the museum when three night guards conspire to steal the Tablet of Ahkmenrah.
• Robin Williams - Theodore Roosevelt
• Jake Cherry - Nicky Daley, Larry's son
• Dick Van Dyke - Cecil Fredericks, the main antagonist of the film. He, Gus and Reginald plot to steal the Tablet of Ahkmenrah so that they can become immortal and live forever. They also intend to steal several other museum artifacts and sell them off to fund their retirement and be rich.
• Carla Gugino - Rebecca Hutman, a docent at the Museum of Natural History. She is particularly fervent about Sacagawea, to such an extent that she has written a voluminous report on the subject. Towards the end of the film, she does meet her in person.
• Mickey Rooney - Gus, one of the night guards
• Bill Cobbs - Reginald, the third of the night guards
• Owen Wilson - Jedediah Smith
• Steve Coogan - Octavius
• Patrick Gallagher - Attila the Hun
• Rami Malek - Ahkmenrah, the good-hearted Pharaoh who is finally awakened from his tomb during the climax of the film. He helps Larry and Nicky save the museum and befriends them. He also owns the tablet that enables the exhibits to come to life.
• Mizuo Peck - Sacagawea
• Ricky Gervais - Dr. McPhee, the strict and paranoid director of the Museum of Natural History
• Crystal the Monkey - Dexter
• Kim Raver - Erica Daley, Larry's ex-wife and Nicky's mother. She is currently engaged to Don, a bond trader.
• Pierfrancesco Favino - Christopher Columbus
• Brad Garrett - The Easter Island Head (voice)
• Charlie Murphy - Taxi Driver
• Paul Rudd - Don, a bond trader and Nicky's stepfather
• Anne Meara (Ben Stiller's real-life mother) - Debbie
• Ian Campbell - Painter

Music

Songs

Ben Stiller claimed that he watched Tom Cruise in the three Mission: Impossible films to learn how to imitate his running technique, shown here as Stiller portraying his film character running for dear life from the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton (Rexy).^[3]

• "Friday Night" - performed by McFly, not featured in American version of the film, but heard in some international cuts, used during the end credits. It can be heard on the American DVD on the Spanish dub.
• "September" - performed by Earth, Wind & Fire, used before the end credits where everyone in the museum is partying.
• "Weapon of Choice" - performed by Fatboy Slim, used in the scene where Larry returns to the museum for his second night and is preparing for the chaos.
• "Tonight" - performed by Keke Palmer and Cham, used for the end credits.
• "Eye of the Tiger" - performed by Ben Stiller, used in the scene where Larry is bored and messes around with the telephone at the front desk beatboxing the music.
• A Muzak version of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow is used when Larry is standing in the elevator, while escaping from Attila the Hun.
• "Ezekiel Saw Them Dry Bones" is the tune Larry whistles as he passes the empty T. Rex exhibit on his first night.
• "Camptown Races" by Stephen Foster is sung by the townspeople of the American West miniature diorama. This is a period-correct song.

Score

• Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman as score composer. Silvestri's score was used for the teaser trailer of Horton Hears A Who!

Reception

Night at the Museum was the highest grossing film in its opening weekend, grossing $30.8 million in 3,685 theaters. For the four-day Christmas holiday weekend, it took in $42.2 million.^[1] The movie was also released in IMAX large screen format, often on site at museums of science or natural history such as the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

In its second weekend, Night at the Museum expanded into eighty-three more theaters and took in approximately $37.8 million at the box-office, out-grossing its opening weekend. It maintained its #1 position in its third week, with an additional $24 million. In total, as of Monday, April 30, 2007, the film had grossed $571,069,550: $250,224,440 in the U.S. and Canada, and $320,845,110 in the rest of the world.^[4]

The film received mixed reviews from movie critics, receiving a 44% rating from noted critics and a 39% "Top Critics" rating, both meaning "rotten" at Rotten Tomatoes and a 48/100 rating on Metacritic indicating mixed or average reviews.^[5] James Berardinelli of Reelviews gave it 2 stars out of 4, and commented on Stiller's performance by stating "It might be fair to give Ben Stiller an 'A' for effort, but to call what he does in this movie "acting" is a misnomer. He does a lot of running around, occasionally falling down or bumping into things."^[6] One positive review by William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, gave it a B-, and stated that the film was "Out to impress and delight a family audience with the pageantry of human and natural history, and that's a surprisingly worthy ambition for a Hollywood comedy."^[7] However, it received a "fresh" 65% from the RT community.^[8] In a case of life imitating art, museum officials at the American Museum of Natural History have credited the film for increasing the number of visitors during the holiday season by almost 20%. According to a museum official, between December 22, 2006, and January 2, 2007, there were 50,000 more visitors than during the same period the prior year.^[9]

DVD release

The film was released on a 2-Disc DVD edition in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2007. It was released on 1-Disc and 2-Disc DVD editions and Blu-ray Disc format on April 24, 2007 elsewhere.

The film became the first non-Disney film to be reviewed by Ultimate Disney, due to the website dealing with other studios besides Disney.^[10][11]

References

External links

• Official website
• Night at the Museum at the Internet Movie Database
• Night at the Museum at Allmovie
• Night at the Museum at Metacritic
• Night at the Museum at Rotten Tomatoes
• Night at the Museum Reviews on Revyu.com
• Night At The Museum Review on Variety.com
• Independentfilm.com video interview with Mizuo Peck who played Sacagawea

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